France 2023 - Day 2 / Lyon

Steps today : 23 797 / 15.67 km

We got off to a late start today, I was awake by 7ish but my mom was still deep asleep so didn't wake her up until just after 8AM. She couldn't believe it! but after such a long day yesterday we needed the rest, plus the jet lag!

We left the room around 9AM and surprisingly we didn't come across a place to have breakfast until almost 10! That was not the intention.

We walked along the Rhône River, happy to have blue skies! 

But realized after about 30 minutes that if we wanted to have breakfast, we'd have to eventually cross over, so we crossed the "Passerelle du Collège" foot bridge, notable for the commemorative inscription about being destroyed by the Germans during the Liberation in 1944.

We finally made it to a café for coffee and croissants, and I was so hungry by then I didn't even bother with pictures - although this cute couple caught my eye!

I always liked this statue near the court of appeals, it's called: Le Poids de Soi / The Weight of Oneself

The first site on our list for the day was the Notre Dame de Fourvière Basilica perched high on the hill overlooking the city. It's a must-visit when in Lyon, but I was especially looking forward to it because now with my better phone-came I could get some beautiful pictures of the exquisite mosaics that decorate the entire church.

Sadly, because it was Sunday, we could not visit the inside. GRRRR  I did get some sneak-shots but far from what I wanted.  Ah well. That's travel sometimes!

The iconic views over the city are worth the time...

Next we walked over to the Old Roman Amphitheater. You don't quite see it as you approach from above, and then all of a sudden the ruins appear in full view and it has quite the impact.

 The best views are from above, it doesn't have the same WOW impact when viewed from below.

It was just after 11AM by the time we were done, so we took the funicular back down to the old town and stopped into a café for a drink...  

Kir Pêches o'clock of course! But this is a really small one. I felt a little gypped.

We ducked into the Cathédrale Saint-Jean-Baptiste just across the street to see the Astronomical clock - quite impressive at almost 400 years old!

We stopped for lunch around 12:30, I don't know why we picked this place anymore - just another typical "Bouchon". My starter was a poached egg in red wine and vinegar sauce, I didn't care for it much, and the main was salad with goat cheese in phyllo pastry.  All in all it was too much food - not even enough room for a coffee.

We needed time to digest after that, so we just wandered through the old town.

An hour later we were ready to sit again and stopped for coffee. The constant wind was giving me a headache, I think it's all the non-stop swooshing noise.

Next on the list was to visit some of the more popular murals around the city. Lyon is full of them and they are very impressive!

This one is the "City Library"

And this one features famous faces from Lyon...  I only know 3.

• Paul Bocuse - a world famous chef

• Antoine de St-Exupéry - author of The Little Prince

• The Lumière brothers - who I didn't know were from Lyon and didn't know they were featured in this mural until after I saw it! figures.

We stumbled upon this interesting happening on our walk afterwards... I wonder what was going on? I say it was a cat-rescue operation LOL

Here are a few images from our random strolling

It was time to stop for a drink again, where I had a decently-sized Kir Pêches, as opposed to the mini version from earlier in the day!

It was around 5 o'clock by the time we were done, so it was time to think about supper.

No trip to Lyon is complete without a meal at Brasserie Georges - closing in on 200 years in business! I calculated that it seats around 300 people, but Google days 700! I was counting each booth as a table for 4 but that seems not to be the case.

I was able to snag a picture of the empty section just as we sat down, but when we left (around 8PM) it was packed to the rafters and there was a long line up at the door.

I was not hungry enough for a big meal, so it was just a few nibbles for me

We walked back to the hotel after that - it's so close by, less that 15 minutes. 

Here is our map for the day: