Lyon Day 2

Lyon is really a beautiful city, especially wonderful if you have a lot of money I am sure. Even a simple café is really expensive, and not to mention all the designer clothing stores. I could certainly spend some money in this town! Lyon is the banking capital of France, so many people who work here can certainly afford the high prices. We started off the morning by sleeping in. We needed to sleep, and there was not an overwhelming amount of things to see and do in Lyon. After grabbing a “cappuccino” from downstairs (pretty sure it was just espresso with whipped cream on top) we took the subway up to the cathedral on the top of the mountain that separates the two sides of Lyon. The views from the top were beautiful. We could see all of downtown Lyon, and the surrounding hills.
A panoramic Will put together of downtown Lyon

When we walked inside the cathedral we were blown away; the intense detail everywhere you looked was amazing. Although I have to say that the cathedral walked a fine line between being beautiful and tacky. There was a lot of gold throughout the entire sanctuary, and amazing mosaic murals covering the walls. Though the sheer size was amazing, the detail and size of the mosaic murals was astounding.

A mosaic wall detail

After touring the cathedral, as well as the other sanctuary below the main one, we walked to the other side of the mountain to check out the views of the other side of town. We came upon the remains of an old Roman amphitheater with beautiful views of town. After that, we headed back into town to walk around for a bit. Our train was not leaving until 7:30 to head out of Lyon, so we had lots of time to kill before we had to head to the station.
A city squareA hotel in Lyon...a bit nicer than our Best Western

We ate a late lunch at a small quick serve pasta place, and lounged around for a bit there to avoid having to go into the rain that had moved in. Luckily, it did not rain for too long, and we had a very American moment and went to Starbucks. This was only the second time we have gone because it is quite expensive, but sometimes one just needs a big, huge coffee, and apparently the only place in France that serves this is Starbucks. We sat by the window, and enjoyed some great people watching…one of our favorite things to do in Europe! Finally we decided to head back to the hotel and get our stuff and go to the rail station. We took a regular train to Dijon, France, and there we got on a sleeping car to head to Florence. Once in Dijon, our next train was an hour late, and after we got on, we realized that they had double booked our compartment. Finally they found us a room with 4 others. The compartments have six beds in each, three bunks on each side. Luckily, everyone was very nice that we stayed with, so it was an enjoyable trip, minus the whole sleeping on a train part. Will was of course able to sleep well, whereas I did quite a bit of tossing and turning, but managed a few hours I think. We woke up around 6:30 the next morning, and the ride into Florence through the mountains was gorgeous. I have failed to mention that some of the best scenery we see is on our train rides, especially the field after field of sunflowers through France. We made it to Florence, and set out to find our hotel and begin our first full day in Italy!

Carrie and Will