Vive la France

My breakfast of Special K and three-week old milk (it turns out that UHT is a wonderful thing!) was probably not the best way to start my journey to the gastronomic capital of the world, Lyon, France. But, as it turns out, it was fitting foreshadowing.

I arrived at the train station early so I could buy my ticket, only to find out that the ticket window did not open until 8:00 and my train was at 8:01. Tried the ticket kiosk, but, alas, you cannot buy international tickets there. hmmmm. My travel companions had the same problem, so we solved it by getting kiosk-printed tickets to Geneva with the intention of buying our Lyon tickets from there. Too bad the line at the Geneva ticket windows was so long that we didn't get to buy our Lyon tickets until the very minute that our train was leaving.

So, rather than having a long lunch in Lyon, we walked around Geneva for two hours waiting for the next train. Not all bad, since I likely won't spend much time touring Geneva (profit hath no honor in his hometown). We explored some of the quaint alleys (right) and hiked up a hill to a church. (I think you will hear me say that a lot ..."I hiked up a hill to a church"...as that seems to be what every town and city in Europe has. A historic church on a hill.)

Finally time to catch the train to Lyon, we loaded up on sandwiches purchased at the train station. I think the others were disappointed, but I LOVE train station sandwiches. Seriously. This one was "jambon cru," which is sort of like prosciutto. I was secretly glad that we were getting train station sandwiches.

Our first stop in Lyon was at Les Halles de Lyon. Apparently this is a foodie's paradise. It is an indoor food market. It is said to be where all the top chefs in Lyon go to choose their best ingredients. It was pretty amazing. Cheeses (left, most I've never even heard of!), meats (including whole dead rabbits, with fur), fruits and vegetables (nothing crazy there), oyster bars, wine bars, desserts (that truly looked like works of art), chocolate, olives, and beautiful breads.

The most intriguing and morbidly fascinating spot in the entire place was a wine bar that had entire deer legs clamped onto the bar. You ordered your wine and then the bartender would take a knife and serve you slivers of meat he sliced directly off the leg (with hide and hoof still attached, mind you). I opted to go around the corner (out of view of the deer legs) and get a glass of Tattinger champagne at the tamer wine and salami bar.

After the foodie exploration, we hiked up the hill to the (you guessed it) church(es). We stopped by St Jean (right) where an enthusiastic band of young people was playing marching band music in the square. Then, we took the funicular up an even bigger hill to the most famous landmark in Lyon. The Basilica of Our Lady of Fourviere (Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourviere) was, of course, beautiful, but the view was even more amazing. We could see all of Lyon. Nearby was the Tour Mettalique, a mini version of the Eiffel Tower, which was built only four years after its more famous sister. It's now essentially used as a TV relay station.

A bit below the church and tower was an amphitheater, parts of which dated back to Roman times. We walked down through the ruin and I thought it was pretty cool that the theater is still used. They've augmented it with a few platforms for lighting, but other than that, it is all stone. I think you would have to bring some major couch cushions if you intended to sit through an entire performance on those seats, though.

More walking back down to the city where we found the Bartholdi Fountain, an amazing creation depicting a female charioteer (naked, of course...this is Europe) with four devil-like horses. For the Americans reading this, Bartholdi is the same person who created the Statue of Liberty. Supposedly, the fountain represents France controlling the four great rivers of the country. The horses have claws coming out of their hooves. A bit freaky. Not a good day for hooves for me! First deer, now creepy horses.

Knowing a European dinner lasts two hours minimum and that our train would leave at 7:30, it was time for us to settle down to a famous Lyonnaise dinner. Hmmm, where to find a non-tourist restaurant that was open at 5:00? Hmmmm, nowhere. After quite a bit of walking, asking and hopefully poking our heads in asking "ouverte?" we ended up headed back to the train station. My fellow travelers stopped by the Halle to pick up treats for the ride home. Meanwhile, not keen on the hairy deer legs, I found my favorite European version of fast food...a turkish kebab shop... up the street. One doner to go, please!

So, the end of a day exploring the epicurean center of the world found us perched on a railing in the train station eating out of to-go bags. Perhaps not what we had in mind, but an amusingly ironic way to end the trip.