There is something about Lyon. It is an air of liberation, an excitement in the streets that mixes with and sometimes even overpowers the smell of sausage and freshly baked bread. This was the place where I chose to heal my freshly wounded soul after the awful Geneva affair, and it helped not to be alone. I met up with Peter, on his bike, and we spent a lovely 5 days in this most interesting city.

It is undoubtedly the city of food. I never knew it was so famous, the saucisson and the many other meats and the boucherie restaurants and so much more lyonnaise specialities. The best of everything you find here, the cheeses and smoked meats and breads and just everything you could ever get fat on. (Aka sophie heaven.)

Peter and I spent the first night in the Auberge de Jeuness right atop the world heritage area of old lyon, on this epic hill which was a b**** to climb up but so worth it because of the viewwwwws my god the views! All of lyon shone below us, sitting on the balcony in the trees looking at this dreamy picture below,the air sweet and cool to the cheek, you couldn't have found a better view from the nearby notre dame basilica. It was a dream spot and Im so glad we got to stay up there, it was a bit overpriced for what it was room and facility wise but it was a pretty awesome hostel purely because of the location.

We pretty much lived off baguette+saucisson+camembert+tomato. Pretty sweet livin. And it gave us strength for all the walking we did overt those days (not that peter needed it after all his cycling, boy put me to shame with his fitness). Place de Bellecour, biggest square in europe with its giant statue of Louis XIV, was a nice place to hang out, as was pretty much everywhere in Old/Vieux Lyon. Walking along the 2 rivers, Saone and Rhone, which run through the city and eventually into each other to become one, are beautifully interwoven through the city, the creamy bridges bringing out the sky. Le Musee de Beaux Artes was magnifique, so many great pieces including some great Rodin, Monet, Manet, and so much more. Jambot's Wildflowers stood out for me in particular.

The Traboules were another unique part of Lyon, these cool little passageway things between two residential buildings, that were like towers usually with a well and sometimes an old clock, with beautiful ceilings and little windows winding up and up the tower. They were all over Vieux Lyon and the suburb of Crois-Rousse, which was the old silk-weavers district back in the day, and is a very cool part of town.

We stayed with 2 hosts in Lyon. Nathalie and Serge, with their adorable sons Hugo and Luc, were the loveliest family you could ever meet. We spent a delightful 2 nights in their welcoming home, spoke some French to the boys (I even read Luc a bedtime story in French!) and we accompanied them to school one cold morning. Such warm, fun conversation and delicious food and wine and laughter, learning about different aspects of French life and life in general in each others different worlds…It was so great to meet these people.

Another great family were the Kleins, Patrick originally from Germany, Helene and their teenage daughters Juliette and Charlotte, who both spoke very good English much to the dismay of my French. They lived in this amazing old farmhouse, renovated inside, and there was such a homey feeling about the place, lots of homemade cheese and jams and a gigantic veggie garden and chickens and rabbits which they kept purely to eat. Really cool layout inside too, Patrick is an architect and you can just tell there is such an eye for design in each room. I very much enjoyed being part of this family for those few days, and it was so nice of them to host all three of us (Ariane had joined us by this time) at such short notice (the same day I called!)

Lyon is up there with Paris. I know Paris is Paris but Lyon has zero percent of that Touristy s*** that clogs so much of Paris' beauty. And plus Lyon is just, well, delicious.