Randonée Urbaine (Lyon)

Sunday is the day our lease expires on our rental car, which means a day trip back to Lyon. We get up early, and are out of the gite before 9am. The trip to Lyon by car takes about an hour.  The highways are easy to drive on and simple to negotiate--not at all different from Canada.

However, driving within downtown Lyon is a completely different story.  We want to return our rental car as soon as possible, so we can start our randonnée urbaine.  However, our GPS is giving us very confusing directions, sending us to an underground parking lot with opera piped in (only in France! lol). Since two circles of the block were not helping to clarify anything, and nearly resulted in Colin turning down the wrong way of a four lane oncoming street, we decide to temporarily park in the parkade the GPS told us to go to, and exit on foot to figure out where the Eurocar return lot is.

We climb two flights of stairs, exit the parkade in the Lyon Part-Dieu Train Station, and locate the correct lot.  The turn into the tiny overstuffed lot is rediculous, and really eay to miss.  One tiny entry lane flanked by big "wrong way: do not enter" signs.  Can you spot it in the photo??  While the car served us well this past week, we are more than happy to leave it here and proceed on foot.

We head towards Café Brasserie Chantcler, which is in Crox-Rousse.  We had read an article in the UK publication "The Guardian" yesterday that recommended it as an "affordable bite," so we made a reservation online for noon, and based today's randonée pédestre around that.  To get from Lyon Part-Dieu to Croix-Rousse and back again would be a pleasant and fairly simple 9-10km ramble.

First, we head West along Rue Lafayette, past the sleek glassy Halles de Paul Bocuse (I put that photo in for you, Mel!), and then across Le Pont Lafayette onto Presqu'ile.  Along Rue Lafayette, I am pretty pleased to see a storefront with the same style skirt I am wearing being advertised in the window.

On Presqu'ile, we see a strange sight: two blocks of police cars, every one packed full of police, lined up along Place des Cordeliers, in front of the Sanctuaire Bonaventure. Many police were sitting with their doors open and some were milling around in groups on the street.  (Not thinking it prudent to take a photo at that time, I took this photo later.)

We have no idea what is going on, so we quickly take a right turn down Rue de la Bourse, past the gorgeous Chambre de Commerce et Industrie and its adjacent outdoor patio area. As it is before noon, the patio is closed, but I muse: wouldn't it be nice to sit there and have a coffee or a beer...?

We then wind our way up past Le Hotel de Ville (City Hall) and its iconic fountains.  While walking along Rue Sainte-Polycarpe, in a small intersection with a corner market, Colin suddenly comments: "I think we are in the gay part of town." I ask: "Is it because that store is called Tralala?"  He answers, "no."  I ask: "Is it because that guy over there is really ripped and wearing tight revealing clothing?"  He answers, "no."  I look around and try again: "Is it because those two guys are holding hands?"  He answers, "no,"  and finally points to a poster affixed on the wall.  "It's THIS!"

We start heading up La Montee de la Grande-Coté, which is a really neat inclined walking path, first lined with shops, then later passing through the centre of a lovely terraced park overlooking the city, before spilling out at the intersection Rue Jean-Baptiste Say, which would lead us to the Café Brasserie Chantcler in two short blocks.  Noticing another poster, I ask, "Well, what part of town are we in now??"  ;)

Actually, Croix-Rousse is the traditional neighborhood of Lyon's famous silk weavers, but in modern times, if you had not already guessed, it is inhabited mostly by "alternative types," like students and artists.  The Lyon equivalent of Vancouver's Commercial Drive.

We had originally planned to make it to the Brasserie area in time to peruse the Croix-Rousse Farmer's Market--the biggest such market in Lyon--before lunch; however, the fiddling around returning the rental car had eaten up a fair bit of our shopping time.  Despite being a little behind schedule, we do still have time to wander down a few blocks of the market, and buy a couple edibles.

We arrive at the Brasserie promptly at noon, and are quickly seated on the patio, right next to the servers' supply of bread.  Jen for the win!!!!

On the way in, we had noticed some kind of charcuterie platter on one of the tables.  We scour the menu, but don't see anything like it listed.  We wonder what "charcuterie" is in French.  Colin's dictionary app is of no help.  Finally, we decide to ask the waiter.  After many aborted attempts to explain what we saw, he finally runs around the corner of the building to look for himself.  He comes back and says:  "That's an appetizer.. it's called charcuterie."  lol.

This restaurant is known for its giant salads, so Colin partook in the Salade Lyonais (when in Rome...) and I tried the mussels, because the last time we were in the South of France I could not seem to get served any mussels, despite them being advertised all over. Well, let me say, they are not like the mussels in Vancouver, which tempt you to soak up every last bit of the sauce with  your bread.  These taste very fresh and briny... like they came directly out of the ocean onto your plate... swimming in their own juices and fresh herbs, let's simply say "the sauce stayed in the pot."  An interesting experience.

After lunch, we decide to try out Ninkasi Croix-Rousse, which is across the street from the Brasserie. This year, they won a Gold Medal for their IPA, so we thought it would be worth a try.  For beer-lovers like us, France has not traditionally been the ideal destination.  Inundated with light lagers like Kronenbourg 1664, we have in the past simply abandoned beer and switched to the country's famous wine selection.  However, in the past few years, microbrew beer, known as "micro-brasseur" or "artisanale," has been on the rise (for an English version of this article, right-click anywhere on the article and choose "Translate to English").

I am pleased to report that the Ninkasi IPA is darn good: hoppy and strong, like the West Coast IPAs we drink at home, so after having our "demi" (250mL glass), we also buy a big bottle to bring back to the gite.

Down the street from Ninkasi, we check out Le Parc Gros Caillou (literally, the park with the big rock).  Coming from Canada, the rock doesn't seem that large to us, but the story is that when Lyon was digging the tunnel for its furnicular around 1900, they ran into this big rock and were at an impasse--they could not break it down to remove it.  With a lot of effort they brought it to the surface whole, where it became symbolic of the "unbreakable" spirit of Croix-Rousse.  Geological analysis reveals it came from the Alpes, probably dropped off by a glacier on its way through the Lyon area.

After a little wander in Croix-Rousse, we descend back down to the Rhone river and walk along the rustic West bank path, from Pont Winston Churchill to Pont de Lattre de Tassigny.  It is quiet and peaceful, like a hidden gem in the centre of the city.  Our only companion is a lone female mallard duck, dipping her feet in the river next to the path. She, like us, seems to be appreciating the shade in what has become a 30 degree Celcius afternoon.

At Pont de Lattre de Tassigny, we cross to the East side of the Rhone, and join up with the much more established Quai Général Sarrail, which is filled with locals and tourists alike, strolling, roller-blading, and cycling.  There is a skateboard park being used exclusively by kids on Razors.  Actually, Razors seem to still be very popular in Lyon, with kids and adults alike.  There is also a small kids' interactive waterpark that reminds me a lot of Hinge Park in Olympic Village in Vancouver.

The Rhone has a fast moving current, giving the optical illusion that the boats moored on its edges are actually steaming at full speed.  Some of these boats are private homes, some are restaurants.

From this vantage along the Quai, we can see clear across the Rhone, and notice some wild thrashing in the water near the opposite bank.  With my bare eyes, I can only make out a very large white blob, roughly the size of a one-man rubber dinghy, and wonder: is someone trying to float down the Rhone in a rubber raft???  So I use my camera to zoom in and see... a pair of swans!  They didn't seem to be getting along, hence the thrashing.  While it is May, perfect mating season, they certainly were not doing anything like the beautiful ballet shown here... it was more like this.  lol.

With time to spare, we cross back to Presqu'ile at Pont Lafayette; the garden patio next to the Chambre de Commerce et Industrie is now open (!) and serviced by both Le Cintra Bar and a little Creperie.  :D  We sit there for quite a while, happily sipping our noisettes, enjoying the antics of the little birds amongst the shrubbery.

At one point, we hear some kind of protest march approaching.  Knowing that France has many strikes and demonstrations, we don't think too much of it.  However, after a moment or two, it dawns on us why all the police cars were lined up along the street earlier.

By the time we leave Le Cintra, both the protest and the police have already dispersed.  We return to Lyon Part-Dieu station by strolling back down Rue Lafayette, buy our tickets with the machine, and board our train back to Chamelet.  We rest in the relatively cool train car and prepare for our next randonnée: after arriving in Chamelet, we will still have a 45 min hike ahead of us, up the hill to the gite. Since that is its own adventure, I think I'll put it in its own blog post.  ;)