**Click HERE to look at pictures from our time in Lyon**
Both: Hey everyone!
Jen: It's Jen and Greg with an update on our travels!
Greg: This update we're going to talk about our train travel in Europe and our time in Lyon, France. But I do want to say ahead of time we are not French and when we attempt to say French words it's going to sound like we're pompous jerks.
Jen: Lyon was actually one of our favorite stops so far, even though we only got to spend a couple of days there. But before we dive into it, we wanted to give a shout out to Greg's dad. He was very excited for us to go on this trip and he wanted to be able to contribute.
Greg: Yeah that's right. So all of our train travel is paid by Dad and we appreciate the support. Thanks, Dad!
Jen: So we began our train trip at the Barcelona Sants station. We decided to get comfort class tickets which was a much better experience than flying and for much less money. The total for both of us cost less than about half of one ticket on a typical domestic flight.
Greg: And you know what? The views from the train were absolutely stunning. We saw the Pyrenees Mountains, the beautiful French countryside. There were these fields of just bright yellow plants...turned out to be rapeseed plants. And we passed through so many charming little small towns with their old Gothic cathedrals towering over the neighborhoods.
Jen: Yeah, it really was like something out of a postcard. The whole journey was so scenic and very relaxing.
Greg: One quirk, though, that I noticed which still continues on all of our train travel so far. People sit wherever they want and it doesn't matter if it's even a full train. They just sit there until someone comes along and says, "oh, hey, that's my seat." And then they just go, "oh, sorry" and move to another one and nobody really seems to care. It's kind of surreal.
Jen: Also, people always talk about having sea legs when they're on ships. But there should probably be an equivalent term for trains, if there isn't one already. Every time I went to the concession car or the bathroom, I was bouncing back and forth like a pinball down the aisle. I'm sure people were probably thinking I was drunk or something.
So when we arrived in Lyon, we took a taxi driven by a colorful and entertaining lady who had her small dog, Tee-Lou, riding up front with her. Tee-Lou was very friendly and he kept poking his head into the backseat wanting all the pets and happily wagging his tail the whole time.
Greg: It was the best taxi ride ever! But, yeah...Lyon is an interesting city. It's the second largest metropolitan area in France and it also served as the epicenter of the silk industry in Europe in, like, the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. It's also known for historical and architectural landmarks and UNESCO World Heritage sites which cover more than 10% of the city and includes over 160 buildings.
Jen: Yeah and Fourvière is actually one of those sites, which is where our hotel was located. The Hôtel Fourvière used to be a convent and they've done a really great job of restoring it.
Greg: Yeah, they did. What was originally the chapel is now the lobby with magnificent ornamental painting and, what we believe, is the original altar. They also used some contemporary elements when converting it to a hotel - like this wooden bench next to the lobby. And all the wood from the bench kept continuing on along the wall and up and around a curve turning into twisting branches and eventually connecting with a wooden column. It was really neat!
Jen: And each of the room doors had a full-sized picture of a significant person from Lyon detailing their importance and their lifespan, from ancient governors to actors and academics. For example, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the author of "The Little Prince", was one of the doors that we saw.
Greg: Now...let's talk about the food. We had three meals at the hotel and each one was perfection. Plus, I had the best crème brûlée that anyone has ever eaten. I won't go into the details here but anybody who wants to know...just reach out and I will expound for hours about this crème brûlée.
Jen: Yeah, he's not kidding. I'm pretty sure that in each city we visited since Lyon he's told at least one person about how good this crème brûlée was.
Greg: The world needs to know! But let's keep talking about the rest of our meals and...we did remember to take pictures! So at dinner - on the menu - they specifically referenced which dishes were traditional Lyonnaise dishes so I chose those. And it was a quenelle of fish for the entrée and a floating island for dessert.
Jen: The menus are seasonal - and asparagus was in season - so I took full advantage of that. I had this whipped goat cheese with asparagus and a cured egg yolk for a starter, and it was delicious. There was also this asparagus soup that they brought out, and even Greg had to appreciate it despite his feelings about asparagus.
Greg: It was a top notch soup. But you also had that pork rib entree with stuffed pasta shells, right?
Jen: Oh yeah, I forgot about that! It was delicious as well. And another amazing thing… all the fresh bread at every meal.
Greg: Funny moment at that dinner. So you have to order everything at the beginning, including dessert. Later on at dinner, the table right next to us got their desserts delivered. And Jennifer literally stops the hostess and says, "can I have that instead of what I ordered for dessert?", which got a laugh from all of us.
Jen: Okay...in my defense, I didn't completely understand the menu at first since everything was in French, and I didn't wanna miss out on that dessert. I mean, it was basically a sampler platter of...DESSERT. So yes, to save myself from a lifetime of regret, I decided to flag down the hostess.
Greg: We were also very pleased with breakfast. So they do a continental breakfast buffet, and while it was overpriced, it was probably the best continental breakfast I've ever seen. All of the food was fresh and so tasty. There were French style scrambled eggs, fresh croissant and Pain au Chocolat and homemade brioche loaf. And when it got low, they would just bring out another homemade brioche loaf. Like they had an infinite supply in the back. There were also gourmet cheeses. All of the juices were freshly squeezed that morning, or so they say. I believe 'em.
Jen: Yeah, and as we said before, everything was just so good. And it definitely made us realize that we were gonna be in a lot of trouble when we got to Paris.
Greg: Other than food, the only full day that we had in Lyon, we walked to some nearby ancient Roman ruins...and the feeling of being there was just indescribable. It was the town of Lugdunum, founded in 43 BC, and quickly became one of the most important Roman cities due to its strategic location. It was the largest city in Roman Gaul, and the population was possibly as high as 200,000 at certain points.
Jen: Yeah, and it was maybe a hundred yards from our hotel, which we didn't even know when we booked the stay there. It was really cool to explore since we don't have anything like that where we're from. And while we were there, a teacher brought his class outside for an outdoor lesson. What a cool way to learn, right?! And it's probably just an everyday thing for them.
Greg: Yeah, I mean, I can't imagine having access to something like that as a part of your normal school day. Well, we continued our walk to the nearby cathedral, Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, which offered some really great views of the city.
Jen: Yeah, but getting up there was a real workout. The stairs, which I think there were probably 30 or 40, but it felt like a hundred were SO steep. And it was like we were doing lunges going up there. And we even stopped a couple of times to quote/unquote “take in the view” - aka catch our breath.
Greg: No kidding. But it was actually kind of windy up there. Like, when we went into the Basilica, when you open the door, these papers and brochures they had kind of nearby just blew away from the table. And I ran to pick them up, but then every time somebody came in and opened the door, it would blow them all over again. I eventually just walked away. But, unfortunately, we were so burnt out on historic cathedrals by that point, I don't really remember much other than the wind blowing the papers. We got some nice pictures that we'll definitely show you guys on the website. There was also this really cool seminary nearby named after Saint Irene, which is my grandmother's name...Hi, Granny!
Wait, her name actually isn't Saint Irene, is it?
Jen: (laughing)
Greg: It's just Irene.
Jen: (still laughing so hard that she can't breathe and is now trying to compose herself) Okay… So once we made our way back to the hotel - which thankfully was downhill - we decided to just take it easy in the room until we left the next day. So our stay in Lyon was short, but incredibly memorable.
Our next update will be about Amsterdam and how we almost didn't get there...
Greg: So thank you for checking in!
Jen: And we'll see you at the next stop!
