Alcala, Spain Fall 2007: Lyon, France

24 November 2007

After my one-night delay in Geneva due to the transportation strikes in France, i got a train to Lyon and with an easy 2 hour ride I arrived. My friend who lives in Lyon met me at the station and then we went off to tour the city.

I saw the Opera House, a statue of Louis XIV, "Theatres Gallo-Romanins" (Roman Ruins), St. John's Cathedral, and Notre-Dame de Fourviere which had a beautiful look out point over the city as well as a mini-Eiffel Tour close by. The walk up to the Notre-Dame de Fourviere was pretty steep but much worth the effort for the beautiful view and to see the inside of the church. The decor inside was ornate and Baroque-esk but with a Roman-Mosaic twist.

Around 1230 me met one of Tony's friends for lunch at a great little "Italian" (with a very French twist ;) place. We had a great conversation about our studies, traveling, what we want to do in the future, and language. I especially liked talking about language with them as they are both very passionate about linguistics.

After lunch we went back to the apartment we would be staying that night and watch a short-independent film that my friend had been a part of when he was in studying abroad last year (he studies abroad at my home university). It was fun to watch because A. we got to see him on screen, B. it was filmed in my home town, C. it was about a girl who had just returned from studying abroad;)

Then Tony's friend left and the two of us went on a long walk to see more of Lyon including his old university (he is working on his master's dissertation now) and "Parc de la Tet d'Or". I loved the park! It seemed to be such a wonderful place to come have devotional time with God, to run, to collect ones thoughts, to have a picnic or just read. We also went to buy these Lyon chocolates that are famous because of their taste but also because of the following story explained by my friend:

"The legend has it that papillotes were born in Lyon (in the Terreaux neighborhood) at the end of the 18th century, when the young apprentice of a confectioner got the idea, to charm his sweetheart who worked upstairs, to send his love notes wrapped up in a candy. His boss, M. Papillot, caught him in the act and then fired him but the idea being quite interesting, made the most of it in his shop - the papillote was born.

tradition 100% from Lyon!! yeah"

I definitely bought some to give to my hopeless-romantic-crew at home (you know who you are ;)

We walked along the river on our way back which was beautiful with all the buildings lit up and reflecting light on the water. There is a really nice bike path along the river too complete with flashing blue lights so bikers can tell where the path curves so as to note bike into the water. Lyon also started this genius idea with bikes. There are many bike stations all over the city where you can pay a meter and then rent a bike for an allotted amount of time. When you are done you simply drop it off at any of the other stations throughout the city! What a great way to see a city and be environmentally friendly! My friend said that other European cities are beginning to take up the idea (Paris for one).

We had some REAL french bread and croissants (almost forgot how good they both are when they are the authentic stuff...it has been over a year since I was last in France), and we watched a bunch of episodes of "Friends" as neither of us like to drink or are all that into the night life. It was so fun to be able to hang out with someone who was a local and who was a friend from home.

The next day we walked to the train station where he caught a train to his parents' home after seeing me onto a bus that took me to the Lyon airport (about 45 minutes away).

HIGHLIGHT OF LYON: Walking in the park and having a great conversation language over lunch with two locals who are passionate about linguistics.

1. Statue of Louis XIV