I finally got to visit Jacquie in Lyon, and it was such a wonderful weekend! She surprised me upon my arrival on Friday night with a belated birthday, complete with a delicious cake and stir fry (all the vegetables she knew I'd be craving!), and various wines from the region.
Saturday, we met her friend Amanda at the train station bright and early and spent the day touring the city. We started off at the Roman theatre, which according to the sign, could hold 4,500 people! There were indeed many stairs, but once we got to the top, there was a beautiful view of the city.
After seeing the ruins, we headed to the Basilica that is also at the top of the hill. It was built to thank Mary for saving the city, and every inch of the interior was covered with mosaic and gold gilding.
We went next to the Atelier de Soirie, the silk workshop, which with my love for printmaking was very exciting. Apparently Lyon is famous for its silk. The studio smelled like a printmaking studio, and all the screens and planks were in the workshop below and the hand-painted scarves and the final products were on the second floor.
As Lyon is also known for their gastronomie, we went to a typical boucheron lyonnais for lunch. While I didn't have the classic specialty (pied du cochon: pig feet! Even my host mom said she doesn't dare try it...), I did have a salad lyonnais, steak, carrots, scalloped potatoes, and for dessert, a praline pie that was bright pink!
Next we headed to La Musee des Miniatures. After some confusion in the beginning with random movie sets, we finally found the actual miniatures. There were rooms at 1/12 size, miniature paintings, origami the size of my fingernail, and intricate cutouts that were done with scissors!
After walking and seeing more of the city, we went to the Parc de la tete d'Or, which is a huge beautiful park with greenhouses and even a zoo! After seeing giraffes, elephants, a leopard, and deer, we decided we were hungry, so we bought mi-gateaux for our gouter from a Lyon chocolaterie. Before Amanda left, we went to FNAC, the French version of Borders. I seized the opportunity. getting a bunch of recommendations from Jacquie and happily leaving with 4 new books! Now, if only I had the free time to read them, but atleast I'm building up my library for the summer!
Unlike Aix, Lyon has a lot of diverse dining options, so for dinner, Jacquie and I went to an Indian restaurant. Thankfully, I got to have the curry and ginger I've been craving since coming to France.
On Sunday we went to the Musee des Beaux Arts, which is considered to be the mini-Louvre. It was nice because it featured a lot of regional artists and art of Lyon. After, we walked along the river and saw more of the city before I had to catch my train.
Overall, it was a great weekend, and I wasn't expecting how nice it would be to have a vacation from Aix. First off, it was so nice to see Jacquie and to be in an environment where I was totally relaxed and carefree with someone who knows me so well. Secondly, even though Lyon is the second biggest city in France, it is so much more laid back than Paris, or even Aix. Although I was slightly homesick in returning to Provence, I know that I have my parents' visit to look forward to in just under 4 weeks!
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