Every time I leave for a trip, my brother feels the compelling need to remind me of the newest statistics … of plane crashes. And every time I have to remind him of how infrequent they are. At around 6 in the morning, I arrived in Lyon on the first day of summer. I couldn’t wait. This was my first time in France, despite it only being for a day and a half. After a tedious 10 hour flight, I finally landed in Lyon (without crashing on a desert island). Although it was morning, I could immediately feel the sun was out, the air was hot, the breeze was cool, the sky was clear (tip: Lyon summers are hot, on average 32oC, so bring whatever you need for a hot summer's day). There had not been such beautiful days in Maryland - I was elated.
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| (Map of France with Lyon shown) |
I stayed in the “Hotel de L’abbaye”. A nice 4-star hotel with free WI-FI and rooms costing about €160 per night. After settling into the hotel room, I checked my watch and somehow it was already 11. I figured I should eat lunch then, to have more time later in the day. Before I left the US, one of my friends recommended a restaurant called “La Dépandance”. He said the food was “as good as gold”, whatever that means. I arrived at the restaurant and ordered the foie gras as a starter and canard confit as entre. Looking back, I am glad I took his advice because the food was delicious.
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| (Canard confit from la Dépandance) |
While waiting for the check I began to overhear the woman speaking at the table adjacent to mine. I heard her talking to her friend, a colleague perhaps, about her move from the US, Maryland in fact (my home state), to Lyon. I decided to chat her up, seeing as we were from the same place. She mentioned she was a museum curator in charge of the new Ancient Greece exhibit at the “Musée des Beaux Arts” and offered me a tour of the museum, free of charge! I figured delicious meal, free tour what could be better … but boy I could not have been more wrong!
It was probably 12:30 when we arrived at the exhibit. The museum is quite old, built in 1801. Anyways, towards the beginning of the tour, I was intrigued by the Greek antiquities. Normally I don’t participate in museum tours but I figured a free tour would be short - at most one hour, maybe an hour and a half. But after the sixth hour, I realized I was wrong. Her French was not the best, she would introduce the pieces and then discuss them in English, but still would never stop prattling with her over-zealous disposition. Throughout the entire tour, she did not inhale a single breath of air. I followed her around until finally, the 6:45 closing bell rang. When I heard the sweet sound of the bell I almost cried. Nevertheless, I politely thanked her, said goodbye, and left.
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| (Picture of exhibit inside la Musée des Beaux Arts) |
Before leaving for France I made sure to buy a ticket to the Football match. I thought it would have been the perfect way to cap off the first day in France. Luckily I did. The stadium was filled to the brim with roaring fans and tickets were sold out. The museum was about 12km away and the starting time was 7:25. I chose to take Le Métro de Lyon (tip: the metro is the fastest way around Lyon). I made it in time with about 15 minutes to spare. The playing teams were OL (the first football team in Lyon, founded in 1950) against PSG. Throughout the match I picked up the fans’ favourite chants: “Allez les bleus!” (go the blues), “Allez putain!” (go dammit), and “faute” (foul). After the match, I made it to the Hotel by 10.
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| (Image taken from the top level of the Groupama Stadium, built in 2016) |
It was 9 am when I woke up. I slept through my alarm. I quickly realized the flight was in 2 hours. I had planned to visit the ruins but time was not on my side. They’re from the period when the Romans presided over France, 51 B.C. - 486 A.D. By 9:15 I checked out and headed for the airport. As I rushed towards the metro, I was enticed by the candied aroma and sizzling sound of the viscid morning crèpe batter cascading onto frying pans all around. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough time to indulge myself in any of Lyon’s delicacies. I boarded the plane by 10:45 and headed back for the US. If you ever journey to Lyon I hope you don’t accept any free tours - unless you like them.
“15 Best Things to Do in Lyon (France).” Swedish Nomad, 5 Dec. 2020, https://www.swedishnomad.com/things-to-do-in-lyon/.
“Confit De Canard.” The Food Gallery, 17 Mar. 2014, https://thefoodgallery.wordpress.com/2014/03/16/confit-de-canard/.
“Download Wallpapers Parc Olympique Lyonnais.” Besthqwallpapers.com, 18 Mar. 2019, https://besthqwallpapers.com/sport/parc-olympique-lyonnais-groupama-stadium-stade-de-lyon-olympique-lyonnais-stadium-inside-view-83921.
“Road Map Lyon.” Map of France, https://www.map-france.com/Lyon-69000/road-map-Lyon.html.
