Exploring Lyon

Our second day in Lyon was spent touring around the Presqu’lle, the area between the rivers.  First, we walked to the Place des Terreaux again to see the garden in the Palace St Pierre, a former nunnery on the south side of the square.

  

We continued to the nearby subway stop.  We saw the other side of the Hotel de Ville (city hall) and the Opera House.

 

In the subway, we were stymied by the ticket machines that would only take credit cards with pin numbers.  We don’t have pin numbers in the U.S.  Luckily it wasn’t long before a helpful Frenchman came by who spoke a little English.  When he understood our dilemma, he bought our tickets with his card (& pin) and we paid him cash.  Saved by the kindness of strangers!  We bought 10 tickets to use over the week.  They worked on buses, trams and subways. When we used up our tickets later in the week, we paid a bit more and got them from the bus driver, using Apple Pay.  Next trip we’ll get a pin.

We took the subway up the hill to the Croix Rousse neighborhood and joined this delightful scene.

It’s a mural!  Here’s a before picture.

Painted in 1987, it has been updated twice, changing with the neighborhood, and actually aging the people in the picture! 

Croix Rousse is where the silk workers (Canuts) lived and worked in the 1800s.  Over the years this area has been gentrified, so very little is left of the old days. We walked to the museum, La Maison des Canuts.  The museum was supposed to be open, and the hours posted on the door listed Monday, but it was closed.  Oh well, we’ll get lunch early.  We had a recommendation.  Oops, closed for remodeling!  We have often had bad luck with restaurants recommended in guidebooks or on the internet.  It’s best to just stop in at one that looks good and has people inside, which is what we did.  Restaurant de la Soie on Place Bertone was very local, and we had great salads.  Can’t believe I forgot to take pictures of our food!   Here’s the menu.  Will had the Salade Lyonnaise (when in Lyon…)

I ordered the Salade de Soie, the house salad.  Our guide the day before had mentioned that Cervelle de Canut and Quenelles de Brochet are French specialties from Lyon.  Cervelle de Canut literally means ‘silk worker’s brain’.  Doesn’t sound appetizing but actually it’s an herbed cheese spread.  Quenelles de Brochet are a mixture of creamed fish, breadcrumbs, and egg, formed into egg shapes and poached – little fish cakes. They topped my salad and were very mild and tasty.  Here’s a pic I got online.

On our way back down the hill into the city, we walked through Parc de la Cerisaie.

And then along a street that overlooked the Saone River with great views of the antique side of town with the Basilica on the hill (and the huge transmission tower.)

And the modern side of town in the other direction.

We caught a bus to Place Bellecour.

  

We finished up the day wandering the shopping district as we walked home.

  

  

Here are a few more murals we found in our neighborhood.

I had to look twice at this one as I thought it was a real café on the ground floor.  It was a mural too!

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