From London to Lyon

 Goodbye balmy, beautiful London! We hopped on the Eurostar train headed for...France!

There were a few hiccups when our coach was shut down due to aircon failure and we were relocated to other seats. Unfortunately, really rude people stole our spots and the train manager bumped us up to first class!

 Obviously, we were very happy campers. The cushy cabins were much better than the tight squeeze in the economy seats. 

 The trip from the St. Pancras station in London to the Gare du Nord in Paris took around 3 hours. But Paris wasn't the final destination just yet.

 We hailed a cab and rushed over to Gare de Lyon. It was quite the chore to reserve our Eurail train tickets because it's holiday season now. The French trains aren't too friendly towards Eurail passes either. It was a good thing we managed to squeeze ourselves into the last few seats. After getting our bearings for a while, we went to catch our train.

 When we got to the platform, we kept hunting around for our train. After realizing that it wasn't on the boards, we approached a train guard and realized we had COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN to account for the 1 hour time difference. We missed the freaking train. We ran back to the station and grabbed the last two seats AGAIN! And got bumped up to first class AGAIN! Our luck was as unpredictable as the weather.

Click on to see more of LYON, FRANCE!

 The two hour train ride was an experience in itself. We would pass enormous stretches of sunflowers planted so precisely. It was a great landscape to drive by!

Lyon is a charming little city, with everything being walkable. The cobblestone streets and the river-side are the perfect spots to go for a leisurely strolls. 

FOOD

This pirate-themed candy store was quite a sight! It follows the same concept as the Pick and Mix back home except the theme made it a lot more interesting. It's not local Lyon food obviously, just a nice store to look around in.

Lyon had lots of dessert boutiques scattered in the city centre selling everything from gelato to pralines to these glazed fruits. We were drooling at every street corner!

They also had the most amazingly detailed marzipans (sugar and almond meal treats)! Check out the shading on the apples above.

The banana peels even had brown spots just like an actual banana would.

For local Lyon cuisine, the hotel receptionist recommended La Machonnerie. P was able to get us through ordering our meal with his handy French skills.

D: Pork foot with potatoes and truffle

I'm really not adventurous when it comes to food but this was fantastic feet! Really soft, tender and flavorful and you won't even think that you're eating feet.

P: Veal tripe with mustard

It was lightly breaded and the mustard was a little sharp but it gave flavor to the otherwise mild dish. It was a delicious example of traditional bouchon fare.

Refreshing sorbets in watermelon, strawberry, and melon

FUN

Lyon was so picturesque at night so we leave you with some of the best sights the city had to offer!

Pont Bonaparte at night

A view of the Basilica of Notre Dame de Fourviere

The city hall and dang, what a city hall!