Lyon

To backtrack a bit... We spent three nights in Lyon. Getting to Marion's, our host, apartment proved to be a bit difficult. She told us what number bus to take but before we heard where we were to get off, her phone died. We successfully found the busstop and before ours came, she called me back. Once on board we had a new problem. A message was flashing on an electronic sign at the front of the bus, and although I can't read French I could pick out the words,"itinerary deviates after" and then the name of the stop that was two before ours. We called our host to ask if we should get off at a stop before ours or continue on. She hadn't ever seen this messge flash before, so she told us to ask the driver and call her back. A man interrupted our bickering over who would ask the driver if the bus would still go to "Ouillens Mairie", and asked if he could help. We explained the situation, pointing out the flashing message, and he offered to talk with the driver. Well apparently the message was wrong, the bus was stopping at all of the stops and in their regular order. Fantastic! Now we would just pay attention to the message board showing the stops and we would be all set, right?! Wrong. Somewhere down the line we realized that the stops were not in fact in order. Why would the bus driver or seemingly kind man lie to us!? We figured we would wait to see if the bus did stop at Ouillens Mairie before we started asking questions. It did not. We got to the end of the line and as the driver was getting out to stretch we struggled through asking about our stop. He explains the best he can that we missed it, the bus DID stop there. Feeling defeated, Andy pointed to the board saying, "it never said it." The board was not listing the stops that the bus was actually making: the message was wrong, and so were all of the posted stops. He was very kind and let us stay on the bus for the return trip, which had a different route and would not be stopping at Ouillins Mairie. He told us when to get off and pointed us in the direction that we wanted to go.

Marion was very confused by all of this, with good reason. First she gets a phone call from us saying, "oh no, the bus isn't going by you!" then the next one saying, "nevermind, its fine," and finally, "okay, sorry we missed the stop, but we got off here, can you come get us?" At last we did arrive. Marion lives with her boyfriend Rudolph just outside of Lyon. That night she cooked us quenelles, a traditional Lyonnaise dish similar to dumplings, and we chatted about our travels and learned about the three month backpacking trip that they did last year in South America. They reccomended some restaurants, "Bushons," where we could try some more traditional Lyonnaise cuisine. They also served some delicious stinky cheese (camembert, roquefort, and a couple others) and "yogurt" for dessert, which is really more like a delicious custard/pudding.

They were headed out to do some rock climbing, but we decided that we weren't up for that kind of physical activity so they dropped us off on the banks of one of the rivers that had a bunch of bars and nightclubs in converted barges. We strolled around casually checking out each place before deciding where we would land. The first barge had live local rock music and peaked our interest immediately, but we wanted to see what else there was so we continued on. The next one had house music thumping and was adorned with a giant Q on the front of it, and a herd of bros hanging out front. We kept walking. We passed a few places that looked a little divey or maybe even closed and then came to the last barge which seemed pretty low key, decorated with neon lights in all different colors. We ended up here, but only stayed for one drink after paying 6 euro for a pint of beer!! We found another (cheaper) bar not too far away and waited for Marion and Rudolph to call. Unfortunatly, when they came and picked us up, Marion was very sick with some sort of stomach bug. She ended up being out of commission for the rest of our time in Lyon. We offered to find another place to stay but they were pretty insistent that we could remain at their house.

In the morning we explored the Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourviere and the hilly gardens leading up to it. The Basilique is a huge church perched on top of a hill with breathtaking views of the entire city. The gardens weren't in bloom (roses) but it still made for a scenic walk. I will warn, however: the climb was not so easy on the thighs. At the base of the hill was "Vieux Lyon," or old town, where there were supposedly a bunch of hidden passageways called traboules to get between buildings that were used by the Resistance during WWII. We spent quite a bit of time looking for them, as they are open to the public, but never found them. I guess they are pretty well hidden. On our way back through downtown we came across a protest, or manifestation in the main square. There were people marching in discontent parades, smoking flares, signs, and a whole lot of yelling things in French that we couldn't understand. We were amused for a little while and then moved on. That night we headed out to find a Bouchon. We had a list of all of the "official" Bouchon's, and even managed to find one that had a vegetarian option for me (they very typically center around meat and fat)! I had French onion soup as a starter (here, the entree). It had several sprigs of rosemary in it, which is a twist I wasn't expecting, but delicious nonetheless. Andy started with an "Assiette Gourmande" which was a bed of fresh mache lettuce with a slice of smoked salmon, several slices of smoked duck breast, and two warm toast points with a generous portion of foie gras on top and a carmelized onion jam on the side. Their house apertif was similar to a kir, but with red wine instead of white. We each had one with our entree. My main course was a plate of vegetables with gratineed potatoes, tomatos, and cucumbers, which was fattened up with a yolky and delicious poached egg. Andy decided to go with something extremely unique and not often found at French restaurants' menu in the United States; it was called "Melange des Gones" and consisted of traditional French components - tripe, saucisson, lardons, and tete de veau. For those unsure of exactly what this is it was a rich stew, slowly cooked, consisting of sausages, pork belly that has been poached and then crisped, the stomach lining from a cow (tripe), and part of the head of a calf, wropped around the tongue and slowly braised. To my delight it was served in a cermaic pot in wich the stew was hidden from view for the most part. Andy found the dish rich and delicious, however the texture of the tripe was a bit tough. The portion size was very large and proved to be difficult to finish, after the sizable entree and with dessert on the way. Dessert was of course creme brulee, my favorite (and yes it was great, but I'm not going to lie: I can still find my favorite in Providence, we'll see what Paris has to offer), while Andy enjoyed the Mousse au Chocolat with candied orange peels on top. Ah, and the wine. A 2009 Jonquieres Cotes de Rhone (we were sitting a few meters from the Rhone, what else were we to order?) complemented both meals and was quite tasty. Overall this was a terrific experience and we got great, quality food at a very reasonable price. With our belly's full, we set off, slowly, for the bus. However, because of the strike, the buses had stopped running by the time we were out of dinner. Luckily, Rudolph was at a friends house not too far away and we could ride back with him later. We met up with he and his friends and it turned out that the apartment was actually part of the traboules, the hidden passageways that we were looking for earlier in the day.

Our last day in Lyon was wasted away in an effort to find my jacket that I misplaced at some point the day before. We never found it, but Rudolph and a friend of his deserve some major recognition for helping out with the search, which lasted for way too long. We had planned to leave Lyon that night for Avignon, but ended up getting in contact with our friend Luke, who we had met in London while both couchsurfing at the same place. It was great to see a familiar face after constantly moving around and meeting new people. We hung out for a few hours with some of his friends, enjoyed some delicious homemade korean food, and then found a hostel to crash in for one more night (he would have hosted us, but after living in Lyon for over a month, he has not found an apartment and is actually still couchsurfing in the city himself).

The next morning we caught an early train to Avignon for 4 nights in Provence where we rent a car and couchsurf with a circus clown!