A Trip to Lyon!

If you want to discover another nice city in France then you might like to visit Lyon. It is the third largest city of the country after Paris (The capital city) and Marseille. I have always heard good stories about Lyon and I decided to go visiting myself and have my own opinion and my own experience of the city. I have a friend of mine who lives there so I thought it would be a good idea to not only visit my friend but also the city as the French expression says: "Faire d'une pierre deux coups!" (In English it would be: "Killing two birds with one stone.")
 After few hours in the TGV (the fastest train of the country) I made it at the gare de Lyon in the afternoon. The ambiance was different than the city where I was coming from and I liked it a lot. Surprisingly, I even met a classmate from high school at the train station. It was such a good conversation and a warm welcome. By the time I was waiting for my friend who was coming to pick me up, we discussed about everything. Yes, the world is a small place people! That is why it is good to be nice with everybody that you interact with because you never know what tomorrow will bring.
I personally chose to dress comfortable and relax for the occasion. To me there was no need to be dressed up for the circumstance because my philosophy is: "Sometimes simple is enough." I had my blue pair of jeans with a blue stripped white tee shirt  from Cache Cache a local French brand.

In the train on my way to Lyon. A white top with blue stripes from Cache Cache. Still in the stripes fever!

 The day after I thought that I could be in harmony with the nice weather outside. There was a nice sun. It was not too hot thanks God! However, the sky became cloudy at the end of the day (you will see it in the pictures below.) but that was OK because being there meant a lot to me. It was just the weather that I needed for the day. Consequently, I decided to wear a girly color which is my pink tunic. Pink color makes me often in a happy mood! Smile and life will be smiling back at you!

@Lyon, in town in front of a water fountain. H&M blue jeans, NAF NAF pink tunic

 When you know that you will be walking a lot almost all day long then, you do your best to dress simple and comfortable from the feet to your head. My friend took me to town and it was once again such a good experience and this is what I like about going on a trip! I can never get enough of adventures! We prepared everything the day before.
Lyon is a really nice city with its gardens and parks. There are two rivers in the city which are called the Rhone and the Saone. You will see many little boats stationing in some part of the city. Most of them belong to individual adventurers or people who are there for summer. Yes, it feels good to be there and breathe the air! Me, the lover of mother nature, I was happy to see some ducks swimming on the water and some nice flowers too. The city is wonderful and I saw that there is a part called the old Lyon. The panoramic view of the city is wonderful everybody was amazed as we were all looking around from the dominating top of the city. You can definitely see the difference from the old and the new modern architectures. There are good museums as well and I also liked to visit the Roman Catholic basilica in Fourviere (the old Lyon area). This old cathedral has a long history and story. In the streets, there are many restaurants serving local dishes and good French cuisine. So if you are a little bit foodie or if you are a gourmet, then you will find what  you need. My friend told me that there is a good restaurant in Lyon called "Le Bouchon Lyonnais" if maybe you go there you might want to try this restaurant. In a part of the city,I almost felt like being in Barcelona (Spain) I really mean it but also it reminded me a little bit of the city of Monterrey in Mexico where I went at the beginning of the year. I don't know why I got this feeling maybe because of the latin style architecture. In town, you will find good shops and boutiques such as: Kenzo, Sonia Rykiel, Sephora, Nocibe, Lush, the Body Shop...But you will also find some modern shopping malls. We, Ladies know what to do! (wink) hmm... I am just saying! 

In town on sunday. it is No work day! Some boutiques were closed already.

 I am a lover of aromatherapy

 San Marina and Camaieu (a French brand) on the corner of that street

I was not disappointed at all and I wish I could stay a little bit longer. No wonder why people talk a lot about Lyon and I have now my personal opinion. Yes, it is a nice city and it worth going there for summer. Some people that I have met in the US told me more about Lyon than Paris because They liked the attractions of the city and the fact that it is not noisy at all.  I have to admit that Paris is different and I tend to like quiet places too. In Paris there are so many people and sometimes it can be noisy.  But look! Paris will still remain Paris no matter what! (smiling)
It looks like the city of Lyon  welcomes a lot of visitors or tourists coming from France and from other  countries of the world. I saw many American tourists and some coming from England, Italy, Spain etc. This is a good place to go with your family for vacations!
And for the soccer fans, Lyon will be one of the cities of France that will host the UEFA Euro 2016 championship yay!

To go through the city they use the buses, the metro and the tramway like any other cities in Europe. I specifically like the tramway because you have a better view of the city. One of the attractions that I liked was the two bridges. They were built differently. These bridges were my favorite places to be because of the water and the wind. It is so refreshing to stand in front of the river! We took some pictures there and yes that is pretty much what I wanted to share in this post. If you want to know more about Lyon and its attractions this is one of the websites of the city to look on internet http://www.en.lyon-france.com/
Now these are some of the pictures that I took during my trip that I want to share in this post. I want to thank my friend who were a good tourist guide to me. He is such a good person!
The basilica Notre Dame of Fourviere was built between 1872 and 1884 with private funds.

 They use this little train for tourists who want to go up to visit the basilica which is on the top of the hill of the city

 

Pope John Paul II

 I am not Catholic but I went to visit like any other tourists the cathedral which is one of the city main attractions. We went inside the basilica. I must say that its architecture plus the walls, the statues...Everything was awesome. Everything was so perfect! A talented artistic work! Unfortunately my camera can not show it enough.

 Here below, this is a text explaining why the basilica was built. It was built from private funds as you can read (For those who read French of course) 1872 was the first stone that was put on the ground and the first church service was celebrated in 1890.  Later in 1896 the church was consecrated. This is such an amazing and old story!

 The ceiling of the basilica

 Once again the ceiling in the picture below

 The floor of Notre Dame. This artistic work is A ma zing!!

 the ceiling

 

 

 

  When you go out of the building,  there are so many tourists on the back side of the cathedral and you will be able to see the panoramic view of the city and I found it wonderful!

 He was explaining to me what we see from the top of the city

We walked further down to the old Lyon. This is the part of the city that made me feel like I was in Barcelona (Spain) a little bit and Mexico (Don't ask me why but the style of the architecture made me really feel this way)

 The weather was awesome! It was such a wonderful day to me!

 

With our happy feet, we walked through Saint Jean street

 And more restaurants along the streets. It was a happy weekend!

 I liked to see that shop below and I took a picture of it with my camera because I found it original! It says Venice @ Lyon as if the owner wanted to says that he brought Italy in Lyon.

Then, we saw the courthouse of Lyon which is right in front of the bridge that I liked.

 Walking on the bridge

 The bridge is built over the Saone river

 This is how this long bridge is made. These things coming out the rock support the bridge (No wonder why they say Jesus is my Rock I can see now how this statement is important and real when seeing this picture.  No matter what you do you cannot fall as long as He sustains and support you. Thank you God!) Back to my trip to Lyon

 

As you can see there is one of my favorite cosmetic shop on the other side of these water fountains. I like  Lush because they sell organic cosmetic products that they make.

Whenever I see something that I like I film it!

 In the two pictures below, it looks a little bit like some Parisian streets

 Hotel Royal!

 The other bridge close to one of the museums of the city. People like to ride their bikes along the bridge

 The Confluence museum

 

Only Lyon

 I hope you like the post about Lyon and that you discovered something new!
This is a song from a French rapper named Youssoupha. I heard it there and I liked the music and the lyrics once I heard it. (Sweet memories of Lyon)
Youssoupha ft Madame Monsieur "Smile"

Thank you for reading! I send you love from Lyon!