A beautiful Saturday morning. We wake at 6:30 AM (thank you, Lucas). We have a coffee, play with some Brio trains and discuss what we should do for the day. Why not Lyon? We are in the car 1 hour later making our way to a new part of France just under 2 hours from our home - a new adventure, for the day. We are home by 9:00 PM that night feeling more cultured, more experienced, slightly tired but looking forward to and planning our next Day Trip. That about sums up our weekend life here while living in Switzerland...
One thing we have found while living here is that there is never a shortage of day trips, but there is also never a shortage of public playgrounds. We stumble upon them everywhere we go. This one in Belleview Square (just above the underground parking garage we parked in) had great equipment for different ages of children with a beautiful backdrop of old buildings, fountains and a well manicured park. This area of Lyon is named the Presque I'sle due to being on a small slice of land between the two rivers that run through the city. After a short stroll (5-10 minutes) we reached the Saône River, which breaks the Presque Isle area from the old town or "Vielle viele".
Before crossing the bridge we admired the old buildings across the river and purchased some fresh produce from the market that runs along this river.
Once you cross one of the many bridges into the old town you are met with cobblestone streets and colored stucco buildings. Meander back into the old town a block or two (away from the river) and you will have no shortage of restaurants who are all competing for your business. We were happy to find one near a public drinking fountain at the end of an outdoor aisle where the children could explore a bit before our food arrived at our table. I ordered Salad Lyonaise, a salad from this area and it was delicious!
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Public Drinking/Water Fountain |
After lunch we took the train up to the
Basilica Notre Dame de Fourvière, walked through and then around the outside of the church to find a wonderful view of Lyon below. We meandered on the hillside and found the Le Theatre Antique de Lyon (ancient Roman theatre), however due to the many steps we opted to peer down into it and not actually walk through it. On our way back down we saw the lovely Cathedral of Saint Jean the Baptiste (photos below).
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Cathedral Saint Jean the Baptiste |
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Cathedral Saint Jean the Baptiste |
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Basilica Notre Dame |
Our trip was leisurely and included multiple breaks for coffee, milk and desserts. We didn't see all of Lyon, but we saw the highlights and it was definitely worth the day trip to see it.
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