January 5, 2011

• Lyon

  You'll stay positive though it hurts.

  I don't like doing things out of chronological order when it comes to things like writing about past adventures, but alas, I uploaded pictures from my camera to my laptop during my adventures because I ran out of space on my memory card, but my laptop is currently out of order (powercord failure).  So, I guess I should start writing before I fail to write altogether.

  So most of my pictures from Lyon are actually stuck on the laptop (sigh!), but I have some still to share.

  My trip through Europe started off like so: my sister, Mich, and I flew in to Madrid and hung out there for a few days exploring the city and shopping, as she prefers European clothes to American clothes.  We passed three days in Madrid before taking a flight to Lyon, France.  In Lyon, we arrived at our hostel, exhausted, but were expecting to meet up with a close friend of her's who is studying abroad currently in Paris.  We were stressed out because we were running late.  But when we arrived at the hostel, turns out her friend was running late too...missed her train so she was waiting for the next. 

  Mich and I then went to eat in Vieux Lyon (Old Lyon) since it was actually at the bottom of the hill on which our hostel was situated.  Bouchon Lyonnais was what we agreed upon--we actually walked back and forth on the same street about 3 times (between 2 restaurants)...I thought that was a specific name for the restaurant, but it seemed to be used else where (looking up, I found that bouchon = restaurant serving Lyonnaise food).  It was quite delicious, though I can't remember at this moment what I ate (also, I know very little French so it makes it even harder to remember), but it seemed like something eggy along with bisque.

  After dinner, we returned to the hostel and Linda finally arrived!  We were relieved that she was safe, because we had no idea about her whereabouts prior to leaving the hostel (it was only until she arrived that we found out that she had missed her train). 

  We spent the next day walking around Vieux Lyon and visiting Place Bellecour.  I knew there was a statue commemorating the Little Prince, but was unable to find it that day.  The next day was spent similarly, except in a different area, but Linda had to leave earlier (I have pictures from that day though):

  

  

  Views from our hostel

  

  Mich & Linda; Random girl walking a dog larger than she is ^^

  Food~

  

  

  Most of these were just so pretty I had to take photos, though I didn't actually try any except the bottom right picture (pretty much marshmallow substance coated in chocolate, that my sis bought). 

  The night before we left, we asked a bunch of strangers near Place Bellecour if they knew where the statue commemorating The Little Prince / Antoine de St. Exupery stood, but most either couldn't understand us or didn't know.  Finally, we came a cross a gentleman who after telling us he didn't know actually called someone up to find out for us...turns out it tucked in a corner not far from where we stood, not quite in the square but to a side.  I got a picture of it in the dark, but we returned early the next day before leaving (those pics are on Mich's cam though).
  

  

  Me & Mich at Le Petit Glouton. The people at the restaurant were so amazingly nice to us.  Mich has most of the rest of the food pics though.  She made it her goal to get a photo of me + food at every meal...she kept up with it pretty much until one of our last days...she missed me I think in Rome.  But that's okay.

  

  On our way either up or down from Fourvière...I thought it was so beautiful, but was slightly mad that the car just suddenly pulled into my photo!  

  

  Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière -- stunning

  

  Mich @ Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière; moss/plants in the garden near Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière.

  The weather wasn't quite as nice, but it was better than we had expected.  Mich and I were a little worried traveling without Linda though, since Linda is practically fluent in French and neither of us were.  But we got around just fine.   At first I was a little worried because I met a lady at the airport who told me Lyon was boring and that there would be nothing else to do after a day; but after three days I don't think I got to see everything or even enough of Lyon...I hope to return there one day.  It was so beautiful...it seemed large but in its own ways small.  I didn't get a chance to see the Gaul/Roman ruins, but I guess I can save that for another day or trip.

  • 11:08 am
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