Category: Europe Spring 2025

Today we planned to pick up our rental car number 3 at about 1:30. We didn’t want to pick it up too early because on the last day of our 9 day rental, when we return the car to Lyon, we have a 3 and a half hour drive.

First thing this morning we had another perfect French breakfast

Then we went for a walk along the two rivers that come together in Lyon.

At noon we checked out of our hotel and walked the mile and a half to the rental car office at the Gare Part-Dieu. The most direct route to get there is through a large shopping mall. There are Westfield malls in California. I didn’t realize that they have them in France too.

We stopped in the mall for a coffee break so we wouldn’t get to the car rental office too early.

At 1:30 we picked up the car and drove out of Lyon into the French alps

Tonight we are in the town of Monêtier-Les-Bains at Hôtel Le Monêtier. This is a ski resort town. The nearby lifts are part of the Serra Chevalier ski area. Of course it is spring and the resort is closed. We had a great dinner in the hotel restaurant.

We were in Lyon for two days almost exactly six years ago. We saw all the sites and had a marvelous time. That meant that on this trip we could just enjoy the experience of being in a beautiful French city on a perfect spring morning. So we went for a long walk. We started out with croissants and coffee. I absolutely love French croissants.

Then we walked all over town and crossed the Saône River four times.

Of course we had a coffee break mid morning.

Eventually we headed back to the hotel for a rest.

This evening we thought we might have dinner at a Lyon Jazz club. It was about a mile away. When we got there there were no seats so we decided to find someplace else to eat.

Walking back to the hotel we found a restaurant that looked inviting. It was only when we were seated that we realized that it was a Chinese restaurant. We had a very good and enjoyable meal.

We had originally thought we might have dinner at the restaurant we ate at last time we were here, La Maison Marie. In my blog post I described it as one of the best meals of our trip. Unfortunately it is permanently closed. So we couldn’t eat there again. It was only towards the end of our meal at Nouyeah that I noticed the restaurant name on the evacuation plan over the door, what a coincidence!