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During our last week in Lyon we decided to do some random exploring. We got out the bus map, identified a route that looked interesting, rode to the end of the line, and got off and wandered around. One day that approach took us to Montessuy, a hilltop suburban community between the two rivers and north of the center of the city. It was interesting to see some of the more modern parts of the city, away from the dense population in the city center. The bus stop at Montessuy was surrounded by apartment buildings, ten stories or so, that appeared to have been built in the 1970s or 1980s. There was a small shopping area nestled between a couple of the buildings, offering all of the necessities (grocery store, pharmacy, barber shop, etc.). For some reason there was also a school to teach people to be clowns. It was closed when we were there but we could see unicycles hanging on racks inside.

On another day we took a bus about 15 km up the Saone to the village of Neuville. On the way we passed by the famous Paul Bocuse Restaurant, one of the finest and most famous in France. It’s out of our price range (and also not really our style) so we never went there to eat. Neuville is a small village located on the banks of the Saone. We strolled around the curving narrow streets, past the type of old church that seems to exist everywhere in France. We stopped at an outdoor cafe for a cold drink and then took the bus back to Lyon. The trip along the riverside highway was very scenic.

Photos of the Montessuy area

We wanted to explore the northern part of Vieux Lyon, a neighborhood that we had not yet visited. We took the bus to Gare Saint-Paul, an old train station in Vieux Lyon located next to one of the many old churches in the city, Église Saint-Paul. Like many European cities, Lyon has multiple train stations, each serving regional and commuter trains coming into the city from different directions.

One of the streets in northern Vieux Lyon, Rue Juiverie, was the home of the Jewish Quarter during the Middle Ages. Although Jews were an important part of the Lyon community they were segregated from the rest of the city and lived primarily along this old narrow street. It was interesting to stroll along this ancient street and imagining what life was like for the residents.

Carrie loves textiles so we couldn’t leave Lyon without visiting the textile museum, Musee des Tissus et des Arts Decoratif. This small museum is housed in an old mansion that was the residence of the mayor of Lyon at one time. It has two separate parts, one devoted to textiles and the other devoted to decorative arts (furniture and such). We spent most of our time in the textiles section. Owing to Lyon’s history in the silk trade there were some impressive examples of silk fabrics. There was also an old Jacquard silk loom on display.

For some reason, one room of the museum was hosting a music lesson. A schoolgirl was there practicing her violin, with her teacher interrupting her for pointers now and then. It wasn’t clear why there was a music lesson happening in a museum, but the student was pretty good so her music provided a pleasant backdrop for touring the museum.

Chris did some web searching and found a silk screening shop to visit, L’Atelier de Soierie. It turned out to be an enormously interesting place, one of our highlights in Lyon. The shop consists of a workshop downstairs where they do all of their silkscreening, as well as a small retail shop upstairs. A young lady who spoke excellent English spent most of an hour with us, describing and demonstrating each of the silkscreening steps. At the end we couldn’t resist so we bought several beautiful silk items from the shop.

We had lunch at a nearby bouchon, Chez Paul. Earlier in the week we had dinner at Daniel et Denise, which is a bit upscale, but Chez Paul was a different experience, more like the original working class bouchons from which the modern bouchons evolved. The food was served family style, which perplexed us at first. The waiter brought out two huge bowls, one with lentils and the other with marinated ox cheeks. There were only four of us and we didn’t know how we would ever eat so much food, especially with more courses to come. But after we had spooned our portions onto our plates the waiter took the bowls and passed them on to the people at the next table, and so on throughout the restaurant. It was that way throughout the entire meal, all the way through dessert, a huge bowl of applesauce, prunes in red wine, and a long creme caramel from which we each took a slice. It turned out to be a memorable lunch and we were all glad we went.

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.

Lyon is a large, urban city but, like many cities, it has done a good job of preserving parkland for its citizens to enjoy.  On a Sunday afternoon we took the streetcar to the end of the line and took a long walk in Parc de la Feyssine. This park preserves a long stretch of woodlands along the Rhone to the north of the city. There were lots of families enjoying the day, as well as bicyclists using the bike trails that crisscross the park. There were frequent “No Swimming” signs along the river. The Rhone is a large, swift river and it would seem dangerous to swim in the strong currents.

We caught the bus to go home right in front of a large Interpol building. Nowadays Interpol is an agency designed to allow communication among police departments in its member countries, but it reminded us of something out of a cold war spy novel.

It was Andy and Tiana’s last day in Lyon and we decided to make it a food day.  Lyon is the culinary capital of France (perhaps of the world) so eating is an event in Lyon.  We were very fortunate that our apartment was only two blocks from arguably the best food shopping and eating place in France, Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse. Les Halles is an incredible indoor shopping mart of food stalls and cafes, each offering a specialty (cheese, charcuterie, fresh meat, fish, oysters, sweets, and on and on). The facility is very upscale and the products are the finest one could hope to find anywhere. Just window shopping there is a treat.

After much browsing and deliberation we decided to buy the ingredients for an Italian meal.  We bought lasagna, fresh pasta, marinara sauce, roasted vegetables, freshly grated parmesean, fresh baguettes, and an almond tart to finish it off. Tiana made the best garlic bread we have ever tasted, using freshly-minced garlic. It was a memorable meal to complete their visit to Lyon.

It was Charlie’s birthday and he chose to go on a boat cruise.  Les Bateaux Lyonnais offers a 1-hour tour that goes up the Saone for a bit and then all the way down to the confluence with the Rhone.  It’s a good way to see the various parts of the city from the perspective of the river.  We had considered taking the cruise a week or so earlier but they weren’t offering it then due to the high water from the spring runoff.

We sat on the roof of the boat so we could get the best view.  A class of squirmy elementary school kids, probably around 9 years old, joined us on the roof.  Unfortunately, the squirmiest kid of the group, Enzo, sat right in front of us.  We knew his name was Enzo because his teacher kept reprimanding him.  At one point in the cruise Enzo decided that it would be interesting to take a sip of his bottled water and spit off the side of the boat, presumably to see it hit the water.  Third graders have not yet been taught physics so he miscalculated the effects of wind speed and direction, and his spit ended up on us instead.  Carrie tried to resurrect her best high school French to say “Don’t spit on us!” but her demeanor was more convincing than her French.

When we returned to our apartment Tiana gave Charlie a birthday haircut.  He was due for a haircut, but he mostly wanted to be able to tell people that he had brought his stylist along on his trip to France.

For Charlie’s birthday dinner we went to one of Lyon’s best known bouchons, Daniel et Denise.  A bouchon is a type of restaurant typical of Lyon.  The food is excellent but the atmosphere is casual, with closely packed tables and red-and-white checkered tablecloths. We had a lengthy and memorable meal.  In the back of the restaurant there was a big table occupied by a group of local French men and a few women.  Part way through the meal several of them got up, put on raincoats, and started singing and dancing around their table.  We never figured out what that was all about but it was fun to watch.

Andy and Tiana had never been to Italy so they took the train over to Torino for a couple of days.  We decided to get out of town, too, so we took a day trip to Annecy, about two hours away by train. Annecy is a beautiful medieval town on the shore of Lake Annecy at the base of the French Alps, not far from Geneva, Switzerland.  The old town is bisected by a swift, clear Alpine stream and the old buildings are quaint and interesting.  We enjoyed strolling around town and having an outdoor lunch at a cafe next to the stream.

Charlie participated in a common French custom, stepping in dog poop. But, France being France, there was also a lovely fountain nearby to wash it all away.  He smelled fine on the train trip back to Lyon.

Andy had visited Lyon previously and he recommended that we all go to the cinema museum in Vieux Lyon (Musee Miniature et Cinema).  The museum has two parts, both related to the movie industry.  The first section has an impressive display of costumes and sets from many movies, some famous and some not so much.  The second section consists of miniature models of movie sets, most in small spaces about the size of a microwave oven.  Some of the miniatures were actually used in movies and others were made simply as pieces of art related to particular movies.  It was a fun, interesting, and very different museum to visit.

After lunch we took the funicular railway to the top of Fourviere Hill. Lyon has two funiculars that scale this high, steep hill on the west bank of the Saone above Vieux Lyon. Dominating the hilltop is the Basilica of Notre Dame de Fourviere, a large church that can be seen from many spots throughout Lyon. It was built in the late 1800s so it is rather new among European churches.  We toured the church and then went outside to see the spectacular views of Lyon from the top of the hill.  It was chilly and windy so we didn’t stay outside very long.