We left the touristy beachside city of Nice the next day taking the busy tram to the Nice-Ville station where we boarded a 1st class TGV train bound for Lyon. We had not previously traveled 1st class on European trains, roughing it in second throughout our travels in Italy. But 2nd class no more! It was the most comfortable train ride that either of us had ever experienced.
We were amused by the small dogs that were so well behaved, sitting on their owners laps while the train was in progress. Even with other dogs being only a few seats away they were all well behaved with no barking or argy bargy. The people were interesting as well, with one lady getting off at each stop along the way to have two puffs of a cigarette, then getting back on board with her little silky terrier in-tow.
Before we knew it we were disembarking in Lyon. A few short metro stops later and we were in the centre of town at our accommodation, a beautiful studio apartment courtesy of AirBNB. The decent sized room on the small Place d'Albon had a view of the Saône river even though the Place itself was under construction. We decided to get our bearings with a quick walk around our city precinct, taking in Place Bellcoeur, apparently the largest open square in Europe. Mick wondered why there was nothing in it apart from a statue on a pedestal. We walked back via the main shopping road (stopping to buy some bargains along the way).
That night we ate at the Bouchon des Filles, with a set menu of cold salads, and our choice of main, cheese, and dessert. It was one of the gastronomic highlights of the trip so far (apart from the veal checks in San Sebastian, of course!) It was almost a disaster as Mick originally ordered the "veal" which was actually veal kidneys. The waitress pointed this out, we assumed she has had many upset tourists who ordered veal and were miserable when they later found out that it was actually kidneys. Damian ordered a pork 'andouillette' sausage, which was nice - however the next day he researched what it was and it turns out it was a sausage made from the pig's colon, filled with tripe. Wikipedia had a nice quote about politics that summed up the andouillette - "politics is like an andouillette, it should smell like shit, but only a little bit". While it wasn't the worst thing he had ever eaten, Damian did not expect to reorder this particular dish.
The next day we got up nice and early (around 8:30) to go explore the Fouvriere. It was an impressive cathedral (with a massive chapel underneath it), but not so impressive that Mick could remember it from his last visit to Lyon back in 2006. Mick could not remember anything from his previous trip to Lyon which did concern him and make him question how much he drank on that trip. We did something that afternoon but Mick (who is writing this can't remember what the hell it was - Lyon must not be a memorable place!). Dinner was at a little trendy restaurant which gave us another gastronomic treat - Lyon is known for her food and she was not disappointing us.
Our final full day in Lyon was spent walking up to the top of Croix Rousse (a northern suburb, high on a hill over looking main town) in the morning, wandering its streets and markets. At the markets we did see a bizarre sight, a chicken shop which was essentially a van with a rotisserie on the side which was barbecuing the chickens! The afternoon was spent shopping down the main street before another nice dinner (bar Damo's terrible dessert) in the old part of town. The following day we said a fond farewell to Lyon as we boarded the train to Paris.
