Lyon, France
May 10 Alarm rang around 6:45 hit snoozed a time or two. I wanted to go to the local bakery at Ménerbes before we leave this area today. Mandy stayed at the cottage with baby Téo while I went out to find some breakfast. It was a beautiful sunny morning. Parked the Fiat below the village and climbed the stairs through the stone walls lined with ivys and flowering plants.
Soon found the main street and wandered the street to find the Boulangerie (bakery). The first place I stopped by was a little coffee shop. Paid 1.5 euro for an espresso and enjoyed it overlooking the valley from the terrace.
Next discovered one bakery was closed and the other one didn't have I what was looking for. I settled on some fresh croissants, a slice of quiche and an apricot tart like pastry at a third bakery/store. So neat to experience being one with the locals going to buy the coffee and pastry while the town woke up.
All packed and ready to leave around 11:00. We had a couple of stops to make. We stopped in at Les Roullets to buy some fresh olive oil. Next we drove into Ménerbes, Mandy wanted to shop a bit at a store that had caught her eye.
Au Revoir, Ménerbes and Provence! We left the Lavender fields, vineyards and fruit orchards behind. Google maps leading the way we began the 3 hr trip North to the city of Lyon.
We had a tour with a local booked for 3pm. We were feeling a little rushed since we didn't leave as soon as we planned. The trip was uneventful and we arrived into Lyon around 2:40 pm however finding the parking lot which our Airbnb host recommended turned out to be quite challenging because we didn't recognize the parking sign.
We settled for a different parking lot. Tried to figure out how the paying process worked. Then we started the trek to find our place to drop off our luggage. It can be a workout hauling a baby, pulling luggage up cobblestone streets while trying to follow Google maps in the walking mode. By this time we knew we were running late. As fate would have it, we crossed the area where we were to meet our tour guide, with our luggage in tow. Totally concentrated in following directions on the phone, we were quite surprised to heard someone calling my name. Turned out it was our tour guide Isabette. She offered to help us find our Bnb and to carry some luggage. We were so thankful for the help. Ended up being quite close to our place and soon found the door marked 60 with shops on either side. The door opened into an alley where we climbed a flight of stairs to locate our door on the 1st floor with a lock pad outside with the keys.
Soon we were off on our delayed walking tour. Isabette did a great job of taking us through an old part of Lyon called Vieux Lyon. Tour took us through beautiful, colorful streets, by a big cuckoo clock and many historical buildings of days gone by.
Towards the end of the tour she recommended an Italian place she likes to eat. We ended up going there later for a meal. The tour ended in front of this unique morale painted on the entire side of a large building. Representing well known people of Lyon in life like scale.
Said goodbye to Isabette and walk out to further explore Lyon. We found this beautiful water fountain in a large open square.
Walked along one of the two rivers of Lyon and headed back to bnb before going to find some food. Lyon is a beautiful city with bridges spanning the rivers. Culinary wise lots of cuisine options to choose from in Lyon.
Tomorrow we will spend the morning in Lyon heading west towards the Loire Valley which is around 4 hrs and 40 mins drive.