Wednesday, October 13, 2010

France - Part 1


We started off our time in Lyon with a meal at a typical bouchon.
The picture above is of one of the streets just lined with restaurants and outdoor seating. One thing I love about the food in Lyon is most of the restaurants offer a few set menus for you to choose from. Any meal always include bread and water. The set menus include an appetizer, entree, and cheese or dessert (sometimes both!). The prices are usually between 10 and 20 euros, depending on the place you choose. While studying there, I fell in love with warm goat cheese salads, gratin dauphinois, and quenelles. Needless to say, I had my fair share of those dishes while we were there...



See that pretty blue bottle in the photo above? It's a very simple concept. Every single restaurant keeps bottles full of water in their fridge. When people sit down at a table, the waiter brings out bread and the chilled bottle of water. Why oh why can't Portugal do the same? France gets points in our book for this. And don't the tables and bottles just look so cute and, well, French?

More streetside dining


We found my old kebab place! Might even be the same guy working there....


What else but more cheese?


Pretty bakery


Fleur-de-lys cakes!


Cute little cafe in my friend Ellen's old neighborhood


One thing I love about France is people really do carry baguettes around!


Checking out the Roman amphitheater ruins.



Lyon has a bunch of passageways which lead under and betwen buildings and courtyards. They were built to allow the silk factory workers to transport textiles between buildings while staying sheltered from the rain


Long, steep staircase


Crepe stand, which almost looks fake because it's so cute!


We went to a bar that I used to hang out at when I was living there, called the Smoking Dog. It's a British pub, which was always half crowded with expats and the other half local French. They used to show The Simpsons and Friends on Sunday nights, and we usually made it to their pub quiz they had once a week. It was great to check it out and see that it hadn't changed one bit.

See the sign above me?



Enjoying a Guinness


A shot of me, Ellen, and our friend Lauren hanging out at the Dog in 2001. You might say we frequented the place. :)


I'll be back with some pictures of the trip we took to Provence -it was beautiful.

11 comments:

Unknown said...

I like these pictures a lot.

Unknown said...

I like that sleeveless black top you have on in a couple of the pictures. It looks good on you.

Unknown said...

I really want to visit Lyon. Will you take me someday?

Unknown said...

I want a Smoking Dog Tavern right by my apartment. Or maybe just the sign.

Unknown said...

Wow that picture of you and Ellen and Lauren is great. It looks older than 9 & 1/2 years ago.

Unknown said...

That doesn't really look like a "kebab" in the picture. More like a "gyro".

Unknown said...

You look really happy in that picture titled "Having a Guiness". Except there is no Guiness pictured so I am kind of confused.

Unknown said...

I've learned that I really like Newcastle beer. Do you like Newcastle?

Unknown said...

When is your post about Provence coming? I don't think I can wait much longer.

Unknown said...

Man you guys run behind. I hear you've been to Prague more recently. What? No pictures yet?

Unknown said...

Hill, you look different. I can't put my finger on it.