LYON, FRANCE

Saturday, December 20th 

(I'm such a procrastinator. I'm writing this in April! Sorry, if I've missed anything!)

I love traveling with friends. This trip we got to travel with Stephanie and Bobby Pnueman to Central France. We flew a quick one hour flight from Venice to Lyon, France. 

It's amazing how close we flew to the Alps. A little scary considering what happened a few weeks ago with a Lufthansa plane. 

The flight attendant was so nice. I asked if there were any places that he recommended and he came back with an entire list of places on a barf bag. Ha!

Can you spot Steph and Bobby? Bobby's catching flies:)

On our train ride from the airport to our hotel we realized that Steph and Bobby hadn't ever reserved a hotel room. I had found the hotel, but thought they would make their own reservation. Luckily, there was still space available at Mercure Lyon Centre Saxe Lafayette. We reserved a room on our way out there.

We warned Steph that our first stop would be at L'entrecote. They have such a simple menu but it's so delicious.

...and their dessert! Mmmmm.:)

Steph filled up on lettuce ...and more lettuce. Boo. I felt bad, but seemed satisfied.

Our first stop was just around the corner at this cute bookstore with an arch of books! There are photos of this place all over the internet, but this is one of the official places they actually have it!

Next we walked over to the river to get some good views. This is one thing I will NEVER miss about France. People do not pick up after their dogs!! EEEwwwwww! This happened more than once on our trip. So gross.

I love that Steph and Nick are doing their Zealander/model looks. I said, "1, 2, 3" and this is what happened. :)

We crossed the river to Old Town.

We found the funicular and rode to the "top of town."

This was one of the most beautiful churches I've ever been in. There was turquoise everywhere! 

Pretty cloudy day - normal this time of year in France.

Are they taking photos of the view or of themselves? We'll never know!

The PPPPnuemans:)

Cutie pie and me!

They humored me by walking down to the Roman ruins on the hill. They were free!

Nick did a little performance for us:) I think he was happy to have a friend there with us. 

Notre Dam Basilica 

Back in Vieux Lyon 

Italian architecture in France.

You can't go to France and not have a crepe!

We ducked into the Traboule. These are long, hidden corridors that lead to mostly apartments. During WWII, locals would use these to escape the Nazi's.

For some reason we decided this would be a good idea...

It did have great views, even though it was COLD outside.

Steph and Bobby pretending not to be scared.

Nick: "How about we start swinging."

Us: "NOOOO!!"

Place Bellcour

Lyon is also known as the "city of lights."

It's easy to see why.

Sunday, December 21st

Bobby had to work on a paper for his masters, so the 3 of his hit the streets. We went to La Croix Rousse first. There was a Christmas market there to greet us.

I have been looking for a Russian hat to fit my head for a while. I finally found one. I was surprised that I went with the white, but I like it! Steph was clearly scared:)

Perfect photo op! 

There was a small farm at the market as well. Steph was trying to stay as far away as possible because she has crazy allergies.

We started our walk back down to the Presqu'ile - little island.

There was some amazing graffiti along our walk toward Place des Terreaux.

This fountain was built by the same artist that made the Statue of Liberty.

Luckily, we got one sunny day in Lyon. We decided to hit up a market along the riverbank. 

I don't want to describe what the man in the foreground was looking at. :)

Steph got a book from the book market!

There was an antique market just across river.

This little girl loved it! She was telling us all about Babar in French. 

We sat at this cafe overlooking the river for lunch.

Apparently, I was still hungry after lunch. I had to get a crepe again! This one was spilling all over! Steph's face describes how I felt perfectly. :)

We found another secret Traboule! Nick and Steph were running around:)

This is how Nick felt about taking another photo...

And Steph too:)

And then there's ME!!!! Haha!

We went back to get Bobby from the hotel and to go to and Indian restaurant in Vieux Nice. (That I had accidentally reserved for 2 people instead of 4! Oops! AND the waitress made a BIG deal about it. Doh!) But we were all able to eat there and had great meals!

I loved Lyon! (minus the "doggie poopies.")

Next up was driving to Dordogne to see Doug and Claudie....