On July 8, we spent our second and sadly final day in Lyon. After we woke up and got ready, we were given pain au chocolat for breakfast and then later served a delicious lunch. For lunch we had duck, ratatouille, rice, and two different salads. All the food was delicious, and it was cool to know that we picked up the food at the farm the day before and you could tell how fresh everything was. This was the first time Aidan and I had eaten duck and it was really good! I was also excited to try ratatouille and it did not disappoint. After we had our lunch we had some of our chocolate cake from the day before along with a praline cake. The cake was delicious, and I was very excited to try it. When Mahaut visited in the states, she brought a recipe for praline cake along with pralines which was in French so at the time we gave it to my grandfather to translate and try to bake. Unfortunately, it didn’t come out correctly and we weren’t able to eat it.
After our lunch, we headed into the city of Lyon to discover all it had to offer. We drove into the city and went to Place Bellecour where we were shocked to see how large the area was and Mahaut explained that there are normally a lot of people there and they hold different events. After, we walked through Vieux Lyon where we went through many shops along with stopping at the Cathedral which was still beautiful even though it was under repair. After that, we looked at a museum for special effects that held props from a lot of different famous movies, including Spiderman and Batman Begins. After that small special effects museum, we took a small hike up to Fourvière.
The walk was very tiring because there are so many stairs and often I had to take small stops. There were some sculptures on the walk which made the walk more enjoyable. Once we got to the top of the hill, the view made all the climbing up those stairs more than worth it. We looked down upon the city and we could see both the Rhone and Saône rivers. We went to the Notre Dame de Fourvière. I couldn’t believe how incredible the inside was with all the beautiful architecture and stained-glass windows. It was grandiose, and I could not believe just how beautiful it was. We then tried to go to the Gallo-Roman theater, but it was closed for a show. We took the train back down the hill and another to Le Institut Lumière.
Much like the films we had watched for class, there were short films playing on TVs on the walls that were of some of the Lumière brothers’ earliest films. We took a break from walking and after the museum closed, we saw an 18-month-old boy trying to use his mother’s keys to get into the building. It was funny to watch, and I think he was amusing himself. He was also very excited when he saw a dog walk by and screamed “chien!”
We then had to take a short train back to the airport where we then took another train back to Paris. I had an amazing time in Lyon and I cannot wait to visit again. It was so amazing to finally see my pen pal again after 6 years and hopefully next time we see each other it is a lot sooner!
