On our third day in Lyon, we boarded the furnicular to La Basilique Notre Dame de Fourviere, a 19th-century basilica with 4 octagonal towers. From there we had lunch at Daniel & Denise restaurant, a Michelin rated bouchon (Traditional Lyonnaise restaurant) recommended by our taxi driver and it lived up to the recommendation. From there we crossed the Saone and took the one-hour boat north and then south to the confluence of the Saone and Rhone rivers with sightings of the orange cheese, green pencil sharpener and the Confluence Musée. Dinner with Phyllicia was at the Paul Bocuse Brassiere L’Ouest, a massive restaurant with wonderful food.

The next day we strolled the markets for lunch and stopped at the Gadagne Musée, just a few doors down from our apartment in Vieux Lyon. We visited the hidden cafe, a charming 4th floor cafe where we had espresso and chocolate. We crossed the river, seeing the sculpture of a man saving himself, and walked to Bellecour, the largest square (rectangle?) in Europe, and on to the Rhone and the long-renovated Hotel Dieu

, a massive complex with shopping — all integrated in the old buildings. Phyllicia arrived to meet us at the La Cave de Voyageurs for a tasting o

f local wines with charcuterie — if only we had known they were bringing in a freshly roasted pork confit and putting it on the bar.

Tomorrow we’re off to Provence…

The French do go on strike. Landing in Paris, we found Air France workers on strike, forcing us first to deplane down steep stairs, and then rent a car for the five-hour drive to Lyon — train workers also were on strike so there were no high speed trains that make the trip in two hours.

We dropped the car and took a taxi to our apartment in Vieux Lyon, the charming area built in the sixteenth century during the Renaissance. We climbed four flights to our apartment and then headed out for lunch and a walk along the Rhone River to enjoy the sunny, 75-degree day. Phyllicia arrived and we walked to the famous L’Ourson qui boi for a spectacular taste of Lyonnaise cuisine.

We had a quiet second day that began at Cosy Corner, a cafe below our apartment, and explored our immediate neighborhood in Vieux Lyon, strolling through the cobblestone paths and learning a bit about the traboules (walkways) through buildings once used by the silk trade to transport goods and later by the French resistance to elude Nazis. Our trip was just beginning, but we’re in love with Lyon already, its beauty, size, people, wine and of course the cuisine.