We went to the train station in Barcelona early Sunday morning, excited to finally go to Paris. Upon getting to the train station, the man behind the counter told us that the only way for us to get to Paris would be to take a train to Montpellier and then pray that there was a train we could take from Montpellier to Paris. Tim and I have Eurorail passes which gives us one big disadvantage – we can’t make reservations to take certain trains (such as the train from Montpellier to Paris). But, we decided we were going to wing it and hope for the best. If Paris didn’t work out, we’d just try somewhere different. So, we hopped on the train to Montpellier!
The train ride from Barcelona to Montpellier wasn’t bad. We had some great views out the window and met a friendly couple sitting across from us – Ben and Brie from Texas. Ben was 25 and Brie was around 27 if I had to guess. Ben loved to talk, but you shall here about them later on…
We arrived at the Montpellier station and of course, found ourselves in line with about 100 other backpackers all with Eurorail passes, and all hoping to catch the same train to Paris without a reservation. We were quickly turned away and told the train to Paris was sold out and were given other possible destinations to go to in France from Montpellier. We walked away disappointed and sat on the train station floor; both of us pretty grumpy – cursing at both the Eurorail pass and Paris. We were going to have a free place to stay in Paris for two nights because my friend was studying abroad there, but our plans to go to Paris had been ruined, twice. “SCREW PARIS!” we said. Tim and I both decided we were done trying to get to Paris and would turn out ruined plans into a new and exciting adventure. We randomly chose to make our way to Lyon, even though neither of us knew a thing about the place…
We had some time to kill before our train to Lyon, so Tim and I made a quick run to an Internet café to send some couch surfing requests for Lyon (since we had no time to prepare for our change of plans, we didn’t have any hostel or couch surfer lined up for Lyon). We also stopped at a small bakery and shared an almond croissant, something I had been craving since we started talking about our Euro trip in March. When we got to the train station platform, we encountered Ben and Brie once again. Their plans to go to Paris had also been ruined, so they too decided on going to Lyon.
The four of us traveled together to Lyon. Ben enjoyed telling us random facts and showing off his “knowledge”. He seemed to “know” everything and liked to comment on every little thing anyone said. Tim and I would often look at each other and exchange a little head nod or smile, indicating that we both agreed Ben’s story he was telling was absolutely ridiculous or that we thought he was making things up again. Nonetheless, we thought he was very amusing and he made the ride to Lyon rather entertaining. We wondered how Brie put up with all Ben’s storytelling and “fun facts” he liked to share, for she was very quiet and reserved.
The four of us finally got to Lyon around 10 at night with no place to stay. We stood by a tram/metro station, considering a night of homelessness. Ben then urged me to use the little French I could remember to ask a French man at the tram station if there was a nearby/inexpensive hotel. The friendly old man told us to catch the next tram to this cheaper and less touristy part of the city where we could find a Formula 1 hotel. Taking his word for it, Ben, Brie, Tim, and I hopped the next tram.
We got off where the old man told us to, a bit lost and confused. There wasn’t much around us other than truckers. We then came across a guy on the street, so I asked him in French if he knew where Formula 1 was. He had us follow him (I know mom and dad, never follow strangers, but don’t worry…) We followed this man who came from the French countryside; he led us silently as he smoked his cigarette. The walk seemed longer than it was, as the four of us were still lugging our million pound backpacks. Finally, we saw the tacky yellow Formula 1 sign on the side of the road.
The others put me in charge of checking in, as I was the only one in the group with some background in French (and the lady at the reception desk didn’t know a word of English). We were able to get two pretty cheap rooms for the night, so we took them. This wasn’t exactly the kind of area that was good for doing a homeless night. The rooms were pretty decent – clean and comfortable. It was a better deal than some of the hostels we had stayed at. Even more convenient, there was a McDonald’s right behind the Formula 1 with free and unlimited wireless internet! What more could we ask for. The four of us got situated and then celebrated our long day by enjoying some of the best McDonald’s hamburgers we had ever tasted. I am not being sarcastic; the hamburgers were actually really good. The Lyon McDonald’s was quite classy. After McDonald’s, we walked back to the hotel and got a good night sleep. Ben and Brie were taking off early in the morning, and Tim and I wanted to have a nice full day exploring Lyon.
After a nice sleep at Formula 1, Tim and I walked back to the tram stop that we got dropped off at the previous night. We then made our way into the nicer part of Lyon, only a 25 minute tram ride away from our trucker hotel. We were pretty hungry (what else is new), so our first stop was a grocery store. We got a baguette, some Spanish ham (we got to really like it when we were in Madrid), and some real French brie. We took our food down by the Saone River and enjoyed a picnic and great view. Although it wasn’t Paris, Lyon turned out to be very charming and we had a lovely day exploring the city! And I still got to practice my rusty French…
Tim and I crossed the bridge over the Saone River and found ourselves in a big square with some monuments and fountains in its center. This was clearly the more touristy part of Lyon – as it was the only part of Lyon that seemed to have crepe vendors. In order to get the “French experience” we obviously made a stop at one of the vendors. It was a hard choice between a Nutella crepe or a churros with powdered sugar. We decided to get the churros and save the crepes for later. However, we made a poor choice. We sat on the side of the square next to a little fountain and shared our churros, which we discovered had a few bugs in it. Living on a tight budget, we ate it anyways…more protein, right?
After our bug-covered churros, we ventured into “Vieux Lyon” or “old Lyon” – the older part of the city. In order to get there, we climbed more stairs than my short legs could handle and finally reached the top of Fourviere hill. (The old city was built up high on a hill, overlooking the newer part of the city). We did some walking around there – we explored the old city’s narrow streets, hidden passageways, and medieval and Renaissance homes. We then made our way to “Parc Archelogique”, Lyon’s ancient park. The park was pretty cool, as it had a 2000 year old Roman theater, which was discovered when modern developers dug into Fourviere Hill…So, Tim and I explored the Roman ruins for a little. Tim had already been to Rome, but they were my first set of Roman ruins I had seen. We walked around the ruins where we were able to get a great view of the city. Afterwards, we went to “Basilique Notre-Dame Fourviere”, the closest we would get to seeing the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. It may not have been quite as impressive as that Notre Dame in Paris, but it was still pretty cool as you can see in the picture below and we both enjoyed it.
Our legs were getting a bit tired from all of the walking around and hill-climbing, so we then made our way back to the newer part of the city in search of some crepes. We had both experienced sweet crepes, so we were on the hunt for a place that sold both sweet and savory crepes. After lots of walking around, we finally came across a creperie. Tim and I shared two crepes: one was vanilla ice cream, almond shavings, and chocolate, the other was goat’s cheese and tomato- both were delicious. We left the plates sparkling clean and walked away feeling very satisfied.
After our wonderful day-long adventure in Lyon, it finally came time for us to find our way back to the tram station. This in itself was an adventure. Although the people in Lyon all appeared to be very friendly and helpful, their sense of direction was a bit off. Every time we asked someone the direction of the tram station we were looking for, we were pointed in a different direction. As such, we found ourselves doing many circles. It was exhausting. Finally, after a few hours, we made our way back to the tram stop and then back to Formula 1. We finished off the night with a treat from McDonalds (in order to use their free Wi-Fi) and sent some emails and couch requests for our next adventure: Switzerland…
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