A shopping arcade, Place de l’Argue (don’t argue with me, that’s the actual name) on a Sunday when everything is closed. Pretty much sums up our stop in Lyon.
A little more than 10 years after our first visit to Lyon, we’re back. This is our 18th stop on our whirlwind tour and only the third place we’ve ever been before; all of the remaining stops will be new to us. While a lot of things have changed in those 10 years – seen massive amounts of the world, sold our software company, moved to New York – one thing remained the same: we’re at the same M Gallery hotel we stayed at back then. We loved it back then and we still like it a lot and while I certainly don’t remember every detail of it it’s definitely familiar.
The path down from the Basilica. We walked the same path – and have a very similar picture – 10 years ago. Except in that picture (click on the Lyon link in the first sentence of the blog) Mark was wearing a shirt, sweater, jacket, and coat. Definitely didn’t need all that on this trip!
One quick note on getting here. We’re moving by train these days and these French trains are simply amazing. I don’t think we’ve left so much as a minute late on a single trip. They’re comfortable, fast, smooth, relaxing – everything you want in travel. We like it best when you can reserve your seats but even when that’s not possible it’s such a pleasant way to travel. I’ve noticed, too, that you almost never hear anyone talking above a whisper or at most a quiet voice. And no one listing to their phone on speaker; people seem genuinely respectful of the other people around them. And while it almost always takes longer to go by train than to drive – especially the trip to Clermont, which required
three trains – the time is so relaxing. I’m getting more reading and napping done than if I were, say, driving (when apparently you’re not supposed to do either) and I love watching the summer fields go by. The sunflowers and corn and hay fields and sunflowers and corn and corn and corn.
There were two problems with this stop. One, it’s freaking hot. It was 97 degrees much of the day on our one full day in Lyon and that’s just too hot. We were concerned when we planned the trip that in this time of climate change Europe is getting too hot in the summer. Well, the first few weeks were fabulous, almost too cold (though we did not complain). If we’d spent weeks like this it would be a very different experience.
We went out in the morning to explore the old city a bit and then go up the funicular to the Basilica when the temperature was pleasantly in the mid-70s. After that, though, damn. All you want to do is sit in your air conditioned room but even most nice hotels in France aren’t built to handle this kind of heat. We went to lunch and as happens with almost shocking frequency we sit at an outdoor table in the shade, under an umbrella or awning and everything is fine. Sure it’s hot but you’re sitting in the shade. Ten or 15 minutes later you see that the sun is creeping your way and suddenly you’re broiling. You move to something that looks as though it will stay in the shade but no, the sun finds you again. It’s happened on multiple occasions this trip. You’d think we could figure out how to avoid that but you would be wrong.
The lunch where we couldn’t escape the sun. That was annoying but the view of the Cathedral was pretty nice. I actually went into the Cathedral after lunch to sit in the cool quiet and read for a while.
Oh, and the other problem. We arrived on Saturday, when most things are closed including lots and lots of restaurants, particularly in August. Then our one full day is Sunday, when everything is closed. Between the heat and the August Sunday this seems like one dead city. I look at our pictures from Lyon 10 years ago and realize, “Yeah, weekdays in April might be a better time to be here…”
To get to the old city from our hotel you had to cross a pedestrian bridge over the Saône River. It was unshaded and very hot but on the far side was this plaza with a light mist. Neither of us laid in it like this but we both enjoyed the cool water on our legs.
And one other noticeable thing. For one of the first stops since we left Paris you hear people speaking English, and North American English at that. So many of our stops the tourists are almost all French, with a few Germans and other weirdos. Almost no Americans, though, until Lyon.
From here we head up towards the Alps and then down to the beach so we should soon be seeing more temperate weather.
Lunch on arrival at a table that was technically indoors (and thus fully shaded) but open onto the street. And for the record that bottle of tequila was for the flowers, not our lunch drink.
Inside the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, proof that we do more than eat at restaurants and sit at cafés
Another view of the interior of the Cathedral. A little sign on the wall observes that on December 17, 1600, Henri IV married Marie de Medici. He keeps popping up on this trip…
Place de la République would normally be buzzing but on a Sunday when it’s 97 degrees? Not so much. Oh, and that’s our hotel right in the center of the picture, with our corner room right under the cupola. If I blew the photo up you could see a shirt of mine hanging to dry on the balcony!
The view of the Basilica from our little balcony
We took the funicular up to the Basilica but took these stair down
A street in the old city
Another day, another meal on some patio or plaza. And another burrata with tomatoes – it seems as though this dish has been on every menu for the last two weeks. The tomatoes are really good summer tomatoes but we’re starting to get tired of it. And please note that my arms aren’t really freakishly long; it’s just the camera distortion. I swear.
