Lyon: Take Two

I'm finally back from my February vacation to Lyon, Prague, Budapest, and London -- it was a blast but it's definitely nice to be back in Bourg, if for nothing else but to stop living out of a dirty backpack and finally have clean laundry. 

One thing that I've learned about myself from this experience is that I do not take nearly enough pictures. I don't know if it was because my camera is too big or if my purse was just too crammed with stuff already, but I found myself rarely taking it out since I was traveling with three other girls, all taking pictures already anyway. Expect a post in the future full of the photos I was too lazy to take. First up, Lyon.

The reason I started this blog (almost four years ago) was to document my summer study abroad adventures in Lyon. When Anna came to France at the end of December, we resolved to return to Lyon to visit our favorite places and discover the city in the winter. The freezing temperatures and snow certainly changed the city. We spent most of our time going from cafe to shop to cafe to shop to cafe to restaurant, bearing the cold for brief moments in between. 

On our first night we bundled up and walked from our hotel in Guillotiere all the way to Vieux Lyon. In retrospect, this was not the smartest of ideas because the cold ended up getting Anna sick at the beginning of our trip (and later at the end), but we enjoyed our scavenger hunt for Mexico Lindo (it was closed, possibly for the whole vacation) and the Irish bars. We ate some kebabs before taking the metro back to the hotel, watching a movie, and going to sleep. 

Our first hotel of the trip

The Pink Tower

One of the best parts of this vacation was spending time with J. (the German assistant in Pierrelatte) and N. (his girlfriend who is studying in Lyon). They treated us to two delicious dinners at their place and J. came along with us to visit the Lumiere Brothers Museum.

Anna, J., and N.

Back to the Fourviere Cathedral, but this time without the funiculaire to take us to the church -- the walk uphill warmed us up.

The view from the Fourviere Cathedral

The fountain at Place de Terraux certainly looked different from before.

Frozen fountain at Place de Terraux

Where we celebrated Independence Day three summers ago

The best Mexican restaurant in France

Showing disappointment over Mexico Lindo being closed

The Smoking Dog Bar

On Valentine's Day we headed off to Prague -- next post coming soon!