A twenty year adventure and more

The French have a saying (or maybe it’s just JG) that goes “jamais deux sans trois,” which literally translates to “never two without three.” This is the story of that truth…

We had an easy ride from Barcelona to Lyon, which got us into the Town just before sunset. After a few hours of sitting on trains, we opted to walk the lovely Rhône River to our apartment rather than taking the Tram or subway. It was a lovely night, coolish at about 15 degrees, and there were tons of people out walking, biking, jogging, scootering and rollerblading. City life in Europe certainly seems to include many Active Transportation options, which is something North America could certainly adopt with greater gusto.

There were also thousands of some sort of blackbird that had alighted in great flocks in the trees along the embankment, causing quite the noisy ruckus, and blotting out the noise of the City. Along our walk, we passed an amazing lap pool right beside the river bank, with some teenaged swim team shredding laps. Olive and I both agreed it would be a great place to train, right in the heart of the City, in an open air pool.

We arrived without challenge at our vacation rental. It was well equipped as compared to others (I’m looking at you Barcelona!), and as hosts ourselves, it makes me aware how the small, simple things make a stay so much nicer and easier. A little salt, sugar, tea, coffee and cooking oil (and laundry soap if there’s a machine) goes a long way towards making a property feel more like home, and allowing a traveller to settle in quickly.

We have now stayed in three different Cities in France (Paris area, Strasbourg and Lyon), and in all three, we have experienced torrential rain. Jamais deux sans trois we agreed.

To escape the morning deluge we popped into a crepe place for second breakfast. The lovely owner at Grumo took care of us, feeding us heartily, and throwing two free crepes (a delicious crepe Suzette that turned out to be JGs and my favourite) and a local boozy apple cider.

As the rain slowed down, we worked our way to the Fourviere funicular, a very vertical tram that took us from the flats of the Seine to the Basilica de Fourviere. What a spectacular spot! Every inch of the interior was adorned (as cathedrals usually are), but the majority was with remarkably intricate and tiny mosaic tiles, that each depicted some glorious religious scene in gigantic, colourful and awe inspiring proportions.

We then worked our way over to Lyon’s Roman ruins. A huge amphitheater, that was easily almost equally as interesting as the Forum in Rome, but with no crowds, pedlars or entrance fees. We also ducked into aa museum to have a dry moment, and spent the next two hours exploring its extensive stories of the Roman history of “Lugdunum” (early Lyon) and the ruins outside.

We then wandered down through a beautiful garden of very steep proportions, into the old twin where we visited the quite underwhelming and somewhat terrifying Marionette museum (for those who have seen one too many Chucky/haunted doll movies).

After a long day on our feet, we wandered home, had some sushi and went to bed to catch a 9am TGV out of Lyon bound for Paris. But jamais deux sans trois! Our bad train luck strikes again!

An unruly passenger forced a stop on our direct train from Lyon to Paris such that he could be forcibly removed by the local police. This caused a half hour delay on a day with some timelines, but thankfully we have learned our lesson about short transfer windows, so once we got back on the way, we still had about an hour to get from our destination of Gare de Lyon in Paris, to Gare du Nord.

The RER (subway) between the two stations was fairly easy to navigate, and we managed to fumble our way through Gare du Nord, with the help of an experienced security guard. We found it very easy to get turned around in the busy Gare de Nord, and it took us a good ten minutes to find our way to the Eurostar International Platform.

Our dear friends, who we are going to get to see, and the reason we chose to fly to London gave us a great hint, but we received it too late. Still handy to have it advised “the Eurostar checkin desk is towards the eastern end of Gare du Nord and up the stairs to the mezz level… it can be tricky to find…“. He also gave us some insider information on where to find lots of good seating, but with a tight timeline we didn’t get a chance to check it out.

So now we are leaving mainland Europe and three weeks later we are finally taking the first train we were supposed to take, but found ourselves unable to book. It feels like it’s been a whirlwind or travel, but it also was quite manageable and very enjoyable the majority of the time.

We can’t wait to see our friends in London, which will be a great treat after so many strangers faces, then it’s back to the comfort of our homes, our very missed fur babies, my Dad who has taken great care of them, and the routine of our daily lives. What a trip which has almost come to an end. let’s see what happens next…