Days 28-30: Lyon

Warning! Last blogpost update! Yes it is sad, but life will go on, and I still have much to tell you about from our visit in Lyon! On the 28th we woke up, and it already was looking like it was going to rain, so we decided to have a museum day. We went to the Museum de Confluences, which is a "hodge podge" museum as Matilda would call it, having many different forms of exhibits related to the arts, sciences, history, and literature. A must visit if you are ever in Lyon, here we learned about the long process of making traditional pots in Africa, to the question of where life began, and what happens when it is over. After having lunch in the museum, we headed out to try to find traboules throughout Lyon. Traboules are hidden passageways that people used to use to get into the center of the city faster so they could go to the market or get water from the spring without having to push their way through the crowds on the main streets. We did find one which had a cool staircase attached to it, and had a lion symbol guiding you along the pathway. We tried to get to the longest traboule located in Lyon's Old Town but it was closed off. So we snagged some pastries in a bakery in the old town and went back to the hotel to get ready for a fancy french dinner. The place we had dinner at, Le Bistrot Maquignons, had some amazing food, and I highly recommend trying it out. Then, because it was Bastille Day, we headed to the town center to watch the fireworks, and then headed back to our hotel. The next day we took a trip to Dijon, a small town outside of Lyon where the famous Dijon Mustard was created! We wandered around, stumbling across a large market area, and also an owl, after having our lunch. This owl (bronze plaques and arrows laid into the ground) guided us through the streets of Dijon, and allowed us to see many of its historical and contemporary landmarks. After doing this for a while, we headed back to the train station to have falafel for dinner in Lyon, before heading off to bed. The next day was our final day together! We packed up and took a train to Paris, where I then said goodbye to Matilda, as she is going back to England for her flight home in a couple days, and I headed off the Germany to visit family for another week before heading home. Thank you to all who have showed continued support of the blog even when I took my time to update it. I hope you enjoyed reading it, even when my writing style and techniques were somewhat questionable, and the pictures were not always of high standards. Good bye to you all and thank you again for allowing this blog to thrive, even in the small community of Gloucester, and wherever else you may be located around the world!