We left early on Saturday morning, once again, to catch the train to Lyon. The weather was crazy hot and once we got to the hotel we immediately changed clothes. While waiting in the lobby, we met a woman from California who had just finished grad school in Michigan and was spending the summer studying French in a small town outside of Paris. What a wonderful way to spend a summer! Well, or course I think so, but even in an unbiased opinion, it's pretty cool.
We started off for the bascilica, which has some of the most beautiful architecture in the area. We took the cable car up from old town rather than walking up the hill, a lesson I learned the hard way three years ago, which is always fun, and toured around the basilica. One of the things I love about traveling is the interesting people I meet. I asked an older gentleman if he could take a picture of us for me, and he didn't quite understand how digital cameras worked. He kept putting it up to his eye, tried to take the picture, and then say he hadn't taken pictures in 40 years. After I got my camera back, he started telling us about how he walked to the basilica everyday to look at the view ever since his wife died a number of years ago. He said that it always reminded him of her and that was why he came so often, even though it was getting harder to walk all that way. He was probably in his upper 80s at least, and it was so sweet the way he talked about his wife.
After we got our picture, we followed Robin's map over to the Roman theatre. I had no idea that there even was a theatre in Lyon! Of all the times I have been there, you would think I'd have known, but alas! At one of the walls, an excellent photo opportunity by the way, we met a couple chatty French guys who spoke perfect English and they took a few group shots for us. One of the guys was really funny, saying "You know Titanic? Be king of the world!" and things like that.
After taking our fill of pictures and enjoying the view, we headed back down into old town, this time walking down the hill, and toured for a while. When it was time for a break, we stopped at an Italian gelato place (I know, I know, you'd think we would have stopped for la glace, being in France) that had the most exquisite cones I've ever seen. They made each cone look like a flower! If that isn't class, I don't know what is.
As per Rick Steve's suggestion, we spent a long time walking around town. We were getting really overwhelmed with how hot it was after a while, so we stopped in at Starbucks and played a few games for a while before heading back to the hotel to choose a place for dinner. Once again, we ended up where we had been earlier in the day at the opposite side of town from our hotel and ate at an Italian restaurant. Amy and Robin needed to prep for the Italian cuisine for the next leg of their trip, obviously. After enjoying a lovely meal and coffee, we went back the hotel (successfully avoiding a demonstration in the square) and played a few rounds of cards before going to bed.
In the morning, we got breakfast at the train station and waited for their train to Nice. It was really sad to see them leave, but what a wonderful week together! I spent most of the rest of the day at Starbucks and completely had a flashback to my freshman year of college when I spent most every Sunday morning before church at Starbucks reading my Bible and having an iced white mocha and a blueberry muffin. After a few hours, I headed out to my friends' house and then went off to a barbecue with other wonderful people from my organization.
A wonderful vacation, indeed.
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