Sunday
Joan and Mike suggested we check out an artist market that runs on Sundays here in Lyon along the Saone River. We met them at the bottom of the market and worked our way up. We were very impressed! There were more than 40 different artisans set up, with many painters but also jewelers, potters, weavers, and artists of all other kinds. We each found something to take home with us too!
Caden chose a glazed heart shaped bowl, Kamy picked out a leather bracelet with a mandala, Joan picked out some post cards and a miniature Lyonnaise house.
And we bought a painting! We were hoping to find a painting as a reminder for our trip (as we did in NYC), and when we saw this piece we were both drawn to it. It is a fantastical combination of many famous buildings and iconic buildings here in Lyon — The Basilica, the St. George and St. Jean Churches, the Opera house, and the Roman ampitheater. It’s intriguing and different and really reminds me of some of Escher’s pieces. We balked at the list price, but Keller returned a bit later with cash in hand and made an offer that was accepted! We now have to figure out how to ship it home safely (and affordably), but we have it! It may or may not be on the mantle in our AirBNB right now. 😉
We then had lunch at Le Bouchon des Filles. We’ve had more French food in the last week than we have had in the rest of our lives! The meals were pretty tasty, but not as good as our first dinner at Le Sud.
Keller took the painting back to the apartment, while the rest of us wandered over to the Fresque des Lyonnais — a huge wall mural depicting 30 famous people who lived in Lyon. Recognizable names include Emperor Claudius from Rome, Jacquard of the Jacquard loom, the Lumiere brothers who are largely credited with the creation of cinema and movies, and Paul Bocuse, celebrated Lyon chef.
We then walked to the Place des Terreaux, where the Hotel de Ville (City Hall) and a large fountain reside. The fountain was designed by the same artist who designed the Statue of Liberty. We were not able to go in the City Hall, but the building was quite impressive from the square.
Next we took the Vaporetto boat from Vieux Lyon down to the Confluence area. The kids enjoyed putting their feet in the Saone River while waiting for the boat. They also liked the boat ride! Joan and Mike talked to the marina staff briefly before walking through the Confluence Mall. Joan and Mike then headed back to their car to drive home.
We then took the kids to Azium — an indoor rock climbing wall at the Confluence mall. There were not employees available to belay climbers, so Keller and I paired off with the kids to belay them on the ropes. Another guest showed us the correct way to tie the rope and attach the harnesses, so once we figured that out we were good to go. By the end of the evening, both kids were climbing WAY high! Kamy’s goal was to make it to the very top of the highest climbing wall (probably 50 feet) and she made it!
Monday
We ran the kids a little ragged with full days on both Saturday and Sunday, so we had a bit of a rocky start. We’d intended on seeing one of the art museums in town, but since they close for lunch at 12:30, we ran out of time.
Instead, Caden and I walked up to the Place des Terreaux again and then caught the Lyon Tram tour up to Croix Rousse. The trip took an hour and climbed all the way up the hill to Croix Rousse — home to the silk industry of the 1700s – 1900s. There was an audio tour that explained some of the history of the industry and landmarks as we passed. There was also another huge mural called Mur des Canuts (or Wall of the Silk Weavers) at the top of the hill. This is the largest in Europe and has been revamped three times to update the mural to reflect the present. Caden thought it was very cool!
After the tram, we met Kamy and Keller in the square. We wandered around a bit, but were unable to go in either the Hotel de Ville or the Opera house. Instead we took the subway back toward our apartment and had lunch at Two Amigos, Californian Cuisine. The food was decent, but not particularly special. We returned to Pog for our current favorite iteration of praline tarts before walking back home. Kamy bought a piece of pistachio cake to try and both kids actually liked it! I did a bit of shopping in the neighborhood while the kids had some downtime.
Later in the afternoon, I took the kids back to Parc Blandan — their favorite in Lyon. They love the huge slides and the maze of corridors in the wall. The kids found another girl who spoke English and they played together until it was time to go. They wanted to ride the carousel but it wasn’t open.
Tuesday
Today was my cooking class at Plum Lyon Teaching Kitchen! I was disappointed that the class didn’t happen on Friday, but at least I was still able to do it while we were in Lyon.
The class was a lot of fun! There were a total of 6 students in the class, plus the teacher Lucy. First we went to the local produce market on Croix Rousse — the largest market in Lyon. After power walking down the aisle, we talked about what produce and meat looked good and planned a menu. Then we worked our way back down the market, purchasing the ingredients we needed. A few stops at a bakery, cheese shop, and butcher shop finished out our ingredients.
We went back to the kitchen and started to work! Several jobs could be shared between everyone, while other tasks were for just one person at a time. We all got a chance to be hands-on and help create the dishes. Lucy was great at answering questions and giving us tips and tricks to successful dishes.
The menu was asparagus soup, stuffed rabbit with wild mushrooms and a beurre blanc sauce, and meringue on creme anglaise for dessert. Lucy said it was an ambitious menu, and we did actually run about an hour later than intended. However, the food was DELICIOUS! I particularly enjoyed the beurre blanc sauce and the dessert! Lucy gave us the recipes for the dishes as well, so hopefully I can re-create some of them later.
The biggest difference I picked up on between how I typically cook and what we did at the class was fresh herbs. In particular, we used a lot of fresh thyme, tarragon, and parsley. None of these are currently in my herb garden, but I intend on fixing this soon! 😉 And lot’s of butter, but fortunately that fits in the keto meal planning. The beurre blanc sauce may or may not have had almost a pound of butter in it. Oh la la!
While I was in my class, Keller and the kids spent the day together. Keller and Caden finished reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and then the kids watched the movie. They took a break for lunch (Asian) and then had some downtime at the apartment in the afternoon. Since my class ran late, they also went out for pizza at Max Call, which was a hit. Overall they had a great day and got a chance to recover a bit from our busy schedule.
Wednesday
For our last day in Lyon, we wanted to go down to the Confluence area where both the Rhone and Saone Rivers combine. The kids loved climbing on the ONLY LYON sign near the Confluence Museum.
We also went to the Confluence Museum. We were a bit disappointed in the museum. The exhibits had a lot of interesting objects, but overall the displays felt very disjointed. It didn’t really have a cohesive message. We were definitely spoiled by the museums in Amsterdam!
We attempted to find lunch on the way back to Bellecour, but since we were outside the normal lunch time of 12 – 2, we couldn’t find much! We even tried to go to a local bakery and pick up sandwiches but they were practically gone. Instead we went home and I cooked the last of the halal butcher meat from a few days ago and the leftover pizza from the night before. We did stop at Pog one last time for two praline tarts, a peanut butter and chocolate chip cookie, and a pistachio cake and had them for dessert.
Otherwise we spent the afternoon packing and getting ready to head to Joan and Mike next! Once mostly packed, I took the kids to the Place Bellecour playground for an hour and a half. There were a couple of clowns entertaining the kids at the park, so Kamy and Caden found them very interesting!
After the park we walked to the grocery store for some basics, came home, ate dinner, and finished packing!
We’ve definitely enjoyed our time in Lyon but we’re excited to move on to the next place! Lyon feels much more livable than Amsterdam did — with a laid back atmosphere and good quality of life. However, we do wish there was more flexibility for meals outside of 12-2 for lunch and 7-10 for dinner. And we were surprised there weren’t more, larger playgrounds for the kids. Parc Blandan was definitely the favorite.
Thursday
Joan kindly offered to pick us up at the apartment and take us directly to her house. We could certainly have taken the bus -> train to the town near theirs, but door to door service was much simpler! We have a lot of luggage (too much!), but we were able to squeeze everything in. We’ll shed a bit of the bulk when we leave for Germany though, as we are intending on mailing the painting home and we won’t have two bags of groceries to cart around.
We love Joan and Mike’s home! It’s very beautiful and has a lovely yard and garden space. The kids have loved running around in the grass! We ate burgers on the patio for lunch and then Joan taught the kids how to play croquet. Both kids like it, though they also created a game where they run down the hill with the croquet mallets and try to pull up the wickets on the way down.
Joan also taught us how to play boules. You never know where the balls will end up, since the gravel driveway offers plenty of rocks to knock the balls off course. It’s fun!
We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening relaxing and visiting while Keller had one more day of work. He’s taking Friday and all next week off, so he is looking forward to a break!
The kids really enjoyed playing at the playground across the river … it was quite the jungle gym!
Friday
Today Joan arranged for us to go to Perouges — a small medieval town to the NE of Lyon. It was about a 45 minute drive from their house. We had lovely sunny weather and you could see for a long way! It is so neat to walk around and in buildings from the 1500s!
Joan offered to pay for the kids to light candles in the little church, which they really enjoyed. Caden has since picked up the habit and willingly will drop 1 or 2 euro coins in the offering box as we explore the little churches.
Lunch was at Les Terrasses Perouges, with a beautiful view from our table. We also tried the local specialty dessert — gallette, which is similar to a flat cake or sweet pizza crust. We stopped at the little art gallery in town, as well as a handmade paper and stationary store where the kids picked out postcards made from handmade paper.
The main square of the town was where the old market would be set up. There’s also an ancient lime tree in the center of the square.
We stopped at the town of Treveaux on the River Saone to let the kids play a bit. We all enjoyed an ice cream as well, and we were able to watch one of the river cruise ships moor alongside the quay. More croquet and boule in the afternoon rounded out the day.
Saturday
Saturday morning we had a leisurely breakfast and visited. Keller and Mike went into town to ship the painting home — Joan had a fabulous supply of packing materials that we were able to use to get it all wrapped up. Here’s hoping it arrives (at Payton’s in Houston) safe and sound! Good luck little painting!
Before …
After … but it MADE IT!
For lunch Joan prepared a great spread with salad, deviled eggs, cheese and meat, bread, and fruit. It felt very French! Joan offered to keep the kids while Keller and I could have some one on one time, so we took her up on the offer!
Keller and I borrowed Mike’s car and drove to Chateau des Fletchers, a large 17th century chateau (ie – castle for the nobility) just up the river. It had been in disrepair, but it is in the process of restoration. We were able to explore the kitchen and basement rooms on our own and then joined the French tour of the partially restored rooms. It was neat to see all the layers of history and changes that had been made over the years.
We stopped back by Joan and Mike’s home to change clothes and then drove to Villefranche sur Saone. We made dinner reservations at Le Cedre at 7:30pm, so we had about an hour and a half to explore the city. We wandered down the main shopping street and looked in the Notre Dame des Marais church. We also picked up a tasty looking bread at Pralus — praline bread!
Dinner was very nice! We ordered several courses and took our time. Since French restaurants rarely do more than one dinner sitting, there is no rush to finish your meal and set the table for another guest. We spent about 2 hours and talked about the trip so far and what we think we may want to do on the next trip!
The kids had a nice afternoon with Joan and Mike as well. They played croquet and boule, ate plenty of yummy fruit, had meatballs and pasta for dinner, and sampled ALL the dessert options at the end! We heard only glowing feedback, so it seems they behaved as we expected them to. =)
Sunday
Today opened very cold and rainy — a cold front blew in over night and dropped the temperature by nearly 30*F. Brr! Breakfast was tasty though — we brought back a loaf of praline bread with us from the night before.
Joan and Mike arranged for lunch at Don Jon, in nearby Oingt. It is a historical Medieval walled city in the Beaujolais hills. On a clear day you’d have a spectacular view from the restaurant terrace. Since it was raining though, we ate indoors instead. The food was very good and we enjoyed the misty view from inside.
After lunch we went back to the house to work on laundry and packing. Our accommodations next week will not have ready access to a washer, so we needed a fresh batch of clothes to make it through the week.
Joan cooked dinner and we enjoyed another evening meal in their lovely dining room of steak, potatoes, and asparagus. It was a wonderful way to wrap up our stay in Lyon and our visit with Joan and Mike. I rarely get to spend multiple full days with Joan, so it was quite a treat for everyone! Thanks so much for opening your home to us — we had a great time!