Woke up in the Innside by Melia this morning, with both of us habving a less than perfect sleep, no relection on the bed/pillows, just over tired I think. Felt just like that after nightshift haze for those shiftworkers who remember. We had an excellent shower, packed what little we had removed from the suitcases and then wandered downstairs to breakfast. Excellent selection, fruit, muesli, croissant, yoghurt, toast, scrambled eggs, roast potatoes and the necessity of the food chain; bacon. All washed down with orange juice and sadly a very ordinary coffee. Not much luck with the coffee so far but will keep trying. Would certainly recommend this establishment for an overnight stay at CDG.
Quick brush of the ivories and a 5 minute walk to the train shuttle (CDGVAL) which took us to Terminal 2 to catch the TGV fast train to Lyon from 1 of 2 train stations at CDG. Because we had not eaten for approx 30 minutes we had some time to spare we had a coffee/tea with a gorgeous apricot danish from Pauls. Coffee average, danish suoerb. Unusually for us the train was delayed by 20 minutes but eventually left for the 2 hour journey to Lyon at 12.20 instead of the stated 11.57am departure. We were in carriage 11, first class; god I love train travel in Europe.
The trip was smooth and uneventful with beautiful country scenery the whole journey. There were so many yellow fields along the route which were either mustard of rapeseed ? (France is the largest producer of rapeseed in Europe). Wind generators in fields and lovely woodlands adorned the trackside.
Once we arrived at Part Dieu Lyon station we crossed the road to the Westfield to pickup our 3 day CityLyon cards ( free travel etc and entry to museums etc) The helpful young lady behind the counter directed us to out the front to catch bus C9 to out accomodation in the Bellecour precinct. We found the stop and walked briskly to catch the bus. Once onboard we settled for the short trip; however... We weren't really switched on and the bus was wandering around, so we were taking in the views. Jane suddenly relalised that we were going in what appeared to be the opposite direction to where we intended. At a stop outside the Hospital the bus driver who spoke no english pointed in the opposite direction, so we alighted, crossed the road and waited. Humouresly it was the same driver that returned as we were only 1 stop from the end of the line. He smiled, we got on, returned to the city and satyed on for the 6 stops ( about 10 minutes) to where we should have been in the first place, Bellecour. It was a quick 10 minute walk via the tourist office to our accomodation for the next 6 nights, Bienvenue la Residence Avy.
After a short rest we popped out for some groceries and necessities for the next few days and then had a stroll around the area. The weather has been gorgeous, 25C with no humidity so an absolute pleasure to just walk and absorb the atmosphere. The Bellecour area has great eateries and bars and as was suggested a great location in which to settle ourselves. It was back to the room for bread, cheese and our bottle of Northern France IPA, followed by some Rose and a lovely Rhone before retiring to bed.
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