Our friends Chris and Reed arrived to spend a few days with us in Lyon before they ventured south to Avignon. Over the next several days we took them to a number of places we had gotten to know – Vieux Lyon, Notre Dame de Fourviere, Saone boat cruise, Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse, dinner at Daniel et Denise. Reed was able to exercise his French language skills in Les Halles, purchasing an array of cheeses from a vendor who was very friendly but knew only a few English words. We enjoyed the cheese with some wine and baguettes back in the apartment that evening.
But the unexpected highlight of the week was a stroll in Parc de la Tete D’Or. We had taken a picnic lunch and we stopped to eat in a gazebo that housed an outdoor grand piano, covered only in a large blue tarp. While we were eating some young people arrived and one young man began playing the piano and singing. More and more showed up until there were a dozen or so, taking turns playing the piano and singing. We supposed they might have been music students from a local university. We spent the better part of an hour watching them perform. It was one of those totally unexpected occurrences that adds richness to travel.
Photos in Parc de la Tête d’or – Clicking on the first photo will enlarge the gallery for better viewing
Video of impromptu musicians in the park – It is a large file and takes a minute to download. Click on “img_6291”, then click on the the small white type in the black box to start the download. The video does not work properly for us using Firefox so try a different browser if you have problems.