Lyon, France

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Headed for a short weekend getaway to Lyon, France 2 weekends ago to celebrate Matt's 23rd birthday.

Grenoble and Lyon are only 1 hour away, something I'm very thankful for because Lyon is such a big city that has so many things Grenoble doesn't.

The fact that its 1 hour away, makes Lyon the most visited city amongst people living in Grenoble because more often than not, we will first need to get to Lyon before traveling out to other places.

So here's our budget little 3D2N trip up to Lyon:

Settled in our "Apartment x hotel" on day 1.

Its a really cool concept because its like an apartment with a small kitchen, 2 rooms, shelves, toilets and everything. But its operated like a hotel.

Sejours & Affaires in Lyon is located right outside the metro station, Place Jean Jaures and getting to ANYWHERE in Lyon is very convenient with metro.

1 room has more than enough room for 4, costs €132 (€33 each for 2 nights).

Transportation

Attractions can be accessed easily via foot or by metro. The metro in Lyon works like the one we have in Singapore, except that the payment system only allows coins and credit cards.

A single ticket (limited for 1hr) costs €1.70, where you can use this ticket to get to any station, no matter the distance. You can also use the same ticket for trams and buses as long as your trip is within an hour.

An all-day ticket would cost €5.20 and you can use this ticket for unlimited trips in a day.

Being tourists that are lazy to walk, we opted for the all-day ticket for days 2 & 3 as we planned to visit many different places in Lyon that day.

The first stop we headed to was Parc de La Tete d'Or, situated the furthest away we've been from the city.

Parc de La tete d'or was rated first on Tripadvisor and there must be a reason... right?

I had such high expectations of this park, and true enough, it did not let me down.

Parc de la Tête d'Or, in Lyon, is an urban park in France, spanning across 117 hectares . Its FREAKING HUGE!

And the best part, there is a zoo within the park. WTPONG!

Anddddddd.. the park and zoo is free too.

Honestly wasnt expecting much from the zoo because not many mentioned about it in the reviews on Tripadvisor.

And the fact that its free, it was kinda too good to be true, isn't it ? Hahaha but I was wrong!

The zoo was the highlight of my entire trip to lyon, not only because I got to see so many animals that i've never seen in my life, I also couldn't believe that a FREE zoo would have SOOO many animals.

There were deers everywhere

We also bought some baguettes, smoked ham, salmon, cream cheese and fruit juice with us.

The park was so clean and green, weather was great too.

Just sitting on a random patch of grass soaking all of that in.. Ah, I miss Lyon already.

Giraffes

Zebras

A HUGEEE crocodile, not even kidding its massive.

Two bears.

Like what?!?! I was soooo surprised to see these bears there. I don't even remember seeing them in Singapore's zoo. But anyway, these two bears were so freaking comical.

One was soooo "ahem" h*rny and they behaved so much like humans. The male bear actually stood on it's 2 hind legs and peed like a man!

Greeted by the sights of beautiful flowers everywhere

Cheetah

Monkeys

Bat-eared foxes

Basilica of Notre Dame de Fourviere

This basilica in Lyon was very small compared to the rest, but the view from above was breathtaking.

I wouldnt recommend staying too long up here, perhaps an hour would be more than enough.

The view from above

Lyon, City

The city was vibrant, and full of life.

We walked past the square where thousands of people were involved in a mass zumba session. It was so fun seeing all these people move about!

Shopping in Lyon is not bad, you can find most major brands over here. However, idk if its just me or.. I haven't had much luck in finding drugstore make up in france!

Not even in Lyon.. hmm.

Off to Matthias's birthday dinner - Many french locals told us that the traditional Bouchons in Lyon are a must-try.

And so matt picked this out of the list I researched

Le Bouchon des Filles

Happy boy with his new birthday gift from me!

(dont worry, he gave me 10 cents back because of the belief about not giving your partner shoes!)

For €25 per pax, you can enjoy a sumptuous 4 course meal. They are super generous with their portions its insane

Starters

Salad and cold lentils - I personally loved the cold lentils the most.

The special homemade sauce was so refreshing, lentils so so crunchy and fresh. It was a great starter to any meal

Pork cheek with Pumpkin sauce - this was sooo refreshing and light

Fresh French Baguette

Salsa puree

Mains:

Matt ordered the steak (which you had to top up €3 more, to €28).

This was surprisingly very bland though, I guess steak is not what they are famous for.

Andrea ordered the pork sausage with mini potatoes at the side

This dish was so huge that she could only eat half.

It was good though I wished they could tone down the "porky-ness" to the dish a little more.

It can get a little too gelat towards the end.

I ordered the Quenelle de Brochet - a one long football shaped dumpling which was soft and fluffy. It reminded me of the fishcakes we have in singapore, just.. a lot biggeer and fluffier.

Many websites actually recommends this dish and said that they enjoyed this ALOT.

I didn't quite like this dish in my opinion, it was way too bland for me.

The crayfish sauce that accompanied the dish was AMAZING though, it tasted so much like a top-grade lobster bisque.

It was creamy, flavorful but at the same time, not too thick.