From Lyon to Provence

Our second day in Lyon  had some better weather, so we set off for our cafe and little pound cake thing again. Being a pretty nice day, I had wanted to walk to a large nearby park, called Parc de la Tete d'Or. Being in Croix-Rousse this meant we had to descend down a heap of steps because we were on a hill. Ryan was following google maps on his phone but took a wrong turn somewhere, because the 7 or 8 flights of stairs we walked down (at least!) ended up more or less in a pile of dirt with some workmen and no exit, so we had no choice but to look like foolish tourists, turn around and walk back up them.

The stairs that led to nowhere

So with at least half a croissant burned off, we adjusted our route and found the correct set of stairs to descend. The calves were feeling it the next day (and day after!) I can tell you! We eventually found the park, which was enormous and had a massive lake full of swans and ducks and geese, and it even had a zoo, all there integrated into the park and for free! Nice work Lyon!

Water buffalo at Parc de la Tete d'Or

We wandered around the park and zoo (which had giraffes, crocodiles, water buffalo, and a heap of monkeys and flamingos) for a couple of hours until we were pretty much lost right at the top end of the park. So to get us back quicker, we picked up some bikes that are stationed around all over Lyon and rode them, albeit a little wobbly, back down to the park entrance.

Picking up some bikes - my first ride in 20 or so years!

Back in town we bought a couple of baguettes and found a nice park to sit in and eat them and watch the world go by. This was when we checked our emails and found out our sub-tenant was moving out, so we then went home to give notice to our landlord that we were moving out, and  sort out some other stuff. Not really the kind of issues we want to be dealing with on the other side of the world, but that's the way the croissant crumbles.

Wine, cheese and charcuterie back at Le Barge

Later that afternoon it was still a lovely sunny day so we headed back out to Le Barge which we had enjoyed so much the day before. Being a Friday night it was completely buzzing, but we found a table and enjoyed a carafe of wine and a cheese and charcuterie platter sitting beside the Rhone as the sun slowly set. Aaaahhh.

Salmon tartare and gazpacho with straw

The next morning we packed our bags, and after going out for a quick cafe we hit the road for Provence. My sister Kirsty is currently playing a festival with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra in Aix-en-Provence and is staying in a house with a pool with 3 others, so lucky us got to crash on their couch! So after a long-ish drive (lots of traffic being a weekend - you were right Audrey!) we arrived at the house and were greeted by Kirsty and immediately hopped in the pool!

1 Euro vin in Aix

Kirsty was playing in an opera that night so Ryan and I headed into the town of Aix for dinner (I had a yummy salmon tartare) followed by a little vin (literally - we passed a bar which was serving little glasses of 1 Euro wine). Then we met Kirsty and her musician pals after their performance and went along to their party (as it was the premier performance of the opera). Free champagne for everyone - woohoo!  When the bar ran dry we all headed to another bar the musos often frequent and stayed out until the wee hours of the morning!