The Lyon Flea Market

Andy and Tiana arrived in Lyon to visit for about a week. They had first spent a few days in Paris, including celebrating Tiana’s birthday at the Buddha Bar. Then they took the high speed train down to Lyon.

Tiana likes flea markets so she did a web search and found Lyon’s weekend market. We took a city bus to the outskirts of Lyon and spent a fascinating Saturday morning exploring the market. It is a huge warren of stalls, each with a specialty (old clothes, phonograph records, home furnishings, etc.). Some of the goods were excellent finds, others were junk, but it was all interesting. And we were definitely far outside of the tourist circuit.

There were several small restaurants scattered about the flea market and we ended up in what is probably the only biker bar in Lyon. The owner was very friendly, and though he spoke very little English (and we spoke very little French) he went out of his way to make sure we understood the menu, even bringing some things from the kitchen to show us what was what. Throughout our stay in France we were often impressed by the friendliness and helpfulness of the people we encountered.

Tiana has a motorcycle and she showed the restaurant owner some photos of her bike.  He knew exactly what she had and they were able to communicate a shared interest, even with few shared words.