Lyon

This weekend Mystery Guest and I braved the roads and traffic to drive down to Lyon where his brother is currently living. (yes, that is only 700km!) We made it in one piece Thursday evening and crashed. On Friday his brother had to work so we were left to our own devices to explore the city. Fortunetly his brother's appt is very centerally located so we could avoid the crowds by doing everything on foot or velo'v. There were so many people because this weekend was the fete des lumieres. For a short history check out the Masson's blog :-)

Lyon is a great city and we had a fantastic time wandering around the old town. It is such a change from Normandy where so much of the old architecture was lost to the war.
But by night the city had a whole new look to it. It was unbelieveable! Plus we were so lucky with the weather, normally this time of year it is freezing cold (being near the Alps and all) but the temps were around 12C and there were just a few rain showers, not bad.

Not only did our eyes get a treat but our stomaches did too! On Friday night we went out to a traditional bouchon lyonnais, talk about some yummy and hearty food! Then during our walk on Saturday I think we had one of the best afternoon snacks, cappucino and this delicious warm apple tart :-) A full Irish breakfast at a pub rounded off our bellies before leaving on Sunday.

Early Sunday afternoon we jumped in the car to drive down to Saint Etienne to visit Mystery Guest's cousin and her new baby boy. Sadly we couldn't stay very long since we had a 7 hour drive ahead of us... The exciting part was after 2 hours of driving Mystery Guest decided that I should have a go and he could take a break.. Well big news for me since I've only really practiced driving a stick in parking lots and I've never driven outside the US (does Canada count??)! So this was my big test!! I think I did ok. I'm fine shifting up (for the most part) but reminding myself to shift down instead of constantly breaking is harder. Plus we got off the freeway after a couple hours and took smaller (toll-free) roads for several hours. I think I drove through every round-about in France! I think I'm getting the hang of them, up until now the only practice I had had in a round-about was on my bike! haha.

Anyway we finally got home about 1:30am and crashed. But it was such a great trip and a golden opportunity to see the fete des lumieres which I probably never would have gotten to see! Thanks Mystery Guest & Co. :-)