The past few days have been a happy blur. Every morning, I woke up early and headed over to Cafe Marmot with Kyle (Katie joined us on the last school day) to get homework done before class. While I was in class, Kyle walked all over exploring different parts of Lyon every day. After class, Kyle and I grabbed lunch (approximately 2.5 hours if done properly here) and spent the afternoon hiking to the Basilica on the top of the hill, sunbathing in the park, visiting the Fine Arts and Confluence museums, and hopping on a 30 minute train ride to St. Etienne. Every night, we ate dinner at a different restaurant in Lyon (rinse and repeat the lunch process). At Pizza Pino, we each ate massive pizzas without aid and vowed never to do so again. At Le Winch, I found myself drooling eating cheese ravioli and chocolate cake from heaven. At Le Sud, Kyle’s seabass was prepared for him at the table and my traditional fish soup from Marseille was anything but “fishy.” At a restaurant in Lyon – the name of which I can’t remember – Kyle accidentally ordered veal stomach. I almost threw up when he realized what he was eating, and he almost threw up at the taste and texture but suffered through the meal to be polite. Needless to say, we ate our weight in Lyonnaise dishes and loved every minute of it.
The dinner that stands out and meant the most was the surprise dinner cruise aboard the Lyon City Boat Hermes. I had no clue where we were going or what the big surprise he had been talking about since before I left was all about until we crossed a bridge to get to the Hermes. A rose sat on our table in the upper deck, and we drank Champagne before and after the first course. Kyle enjoyed lamb and vegetables for his main course while I ate salmon drizzled with red sauce. The dinner felt especially French when we ate matured cheeses for the third course. After each course, we walked to the outside deck and enjoyed the sunset view as we sailed down the Rhone river and up the Soane river and back. There’s something magical about Lyon and seeing it in a romantic setting with my sweetheart over dinner was an unforgettable experience.
Kyle left the food capital of the world today to head back home to air conditioning. This blog will likely be dead over the next week as we prepare for exams the week after, but Lord knows it will pick right back up when the Willis-McKey crew get in town! C’mon y’all!
Lyon Livin' 