Adventures of a Chicago Gal: [2015 France-Lyon] Leg-breaking start in Lyon

Lyon, with its 490k population, is the third largest city in France, situated between Paris & Marseille. Ever since I saw Bourdain hunting with Lyon's famous chef Paul Bocuse, I've been dying to visit this gastronomy capital of the world.

Life was hectic before the trip, so I didn't think too clearly before booking round trip tickets to Paris first, then adding on round trip tickets between Paris & Lyon. This turned out to be a mistake in two ways:

1. The airports are very far out of the cities.
2. French airport security is slow/strict.
3. We had to pay crazy check luggage fees for the domestic flights.

Turns out the TGV train to Lyon also stops at CDG airport. I'll remember this for future reference!

First impression of Lyon airport: wow!

Lyon's airport is quite a distance away from the city, by taxi it costs more than 60 euros. So we decided to take the Rhonexpress to the train station then take a taxi to old Lyon, where our airbnb was located. We were able to locate the Rhonexpress ticket machine without a hitch and got on to a train within 15 minutes. Not bad for a start, I thought as I stretched and relaxed on the train.

20 minutes later, the train slowed. Few minutes later, it stopped...in the middle of nowhere. Another 15 minutes of silence, the overhead speakers blasted a long string of French, of which I only recognized two words: attendez (wait) and reponder (response). OH SHIT.

5 minutes later, the lights and AC went out. Everyone stood up, grabbed their luggages and started walking towards the door. Upon asking one of the passengers, it turns out the operator recommended we just WALK TO THE STATION. WHAT?! D & I walked along the train tracks, luggages in tow, with me muttering under my breath the whole time: Who does this? Dropping international passengers in the middle of nowhere and telling us to walk? blahblahblah...20 minutes later, as we walked into the Part Dieu train station, our cheerily red Rhonexpress train pulled in at the same time, doors open ready for the next batch of unlucky passengers. So that's what it feels like to have steam coming out of your ears...

Thankfully, there were plenty of cabs waiting outside the station, so we hopped into one and showed him the airbnb address. Lucky for us, this taxi driver is a driving god, taking every illegal lane possible to get us across town in no time. All while telling us about the cityscape flying by in the windows. Too bad I was holding on too tightly for my dear life instead of focusing on what he said (not that I'd understand much of it), though I did catch him mentioning he'd visited Illinois.

Our airbnb host, Gaetan, graciously greeted us when we arrived, despite our delay. He grabbed my luggage, and said: "Room's on the second floor." I tried to smile but inside I was rolling and bawling on the floor. More walking?! Oh well...To be fair, the staircase was pretty cool. Turns out it's one of the ancient traboules in Lyon that is now no longer open to the public. Lucky us!

Our airbnb is in the Vieux Lyon (old Lyon) area, right next to Saone River, close to shopping and restaurants. Cathedral Saint Jean Baptiste is right around the corner, and we can even see the white Notre-Dame Fourvier on the hill from our living room window. I can't recommend this airbnb enough. The location was awesome, place is super clean & spacious and Gaetan never took over 10 minutes to respond my texts. If you ever need a place to stay in Lyon, check it out!

After a brief rest, we walked around a bit. There were tons of cute stores for soap, candles, condiments, honey, cookies etc. I vowed to return and explore them in depth. As for the crazily colored candies below, pictures will have to suffice...

Of course we had to check out Saint Jean Baptiste Cathedral, but only for a little bit coz we were starving!

I found Cafe du Soleil before we left and made a reservation online. It's very close to our airbnb, which would be perfect on the first day because we won't have the energy to explore much. Unfortunately the French eat late, so most restaurants don't open until 7:30p for dinner service, which was the earliest reservation I could get. When we walked in 30minutes earlier, they could only give us some wine and menus, as they were having their employee dinner at that time.

Since we were famished and the set menus were quite cheap, we both decided to get 3 courses.

We both started with salad: a Lyonnaise salad for me and a special one for D that had smoked salmon and duck pate. Both were excellent, though neither of us touched that slab of yellow fat!

Since we're in France, wine is a no-brainer. Rose for me! Even the bread in their bread basket look loads better than what we have in specialty French bakeries!

We both ordered quenelles, which are basically huge balls of whipped fish paste baked in a rich cream sauce. I was a bit worried about the size and cream sauce (not a fan), but it was so good I ended up finishing the beast. I was puzzled to see rice as a side though...do Lyonnais eat a lot of rice?

For dessert, D ordered the pistachio creme brulee, and I had to get the famous Lyonnais praline tart (it's a weird habit of mine, always have to order what they're known for, even if I'm not a huge fan of the ingredients). I'm sure all of you know how big is my sweet tooth, but this tart defeated me. It was so cloyingly sweet I couldn't finish it. The tart shell was equally sweet and super hard. In comparison the creme brulee was a winner (although it wasn't that special and the color was a bit offputting.)