Lyon

As a postscript to yesterday's entry, the main reason we ended up in this gorgeous place was that knowing that both of my travel mates were celebrating milestone birthdays this year, I began a search for a Michelin starred restaurant to help in the celebrations. I found the restaurant in this chateau, discovered they had rooms as well and ...well... one thing led to another and we booked hotel and restaurant. It was not a disappointment says Dawn from our room.

We did not rush off today and yet by 1:00 we were at our hotel - The Ibis Styles - in Lyon. This place was chosen because it is next door to the train station from which Brigitte departs tomorrow for Hamburg and beyond. After a quick refresh, we set out on a trek to the rivers flowing through Lyon, the Rhone and the Saone.

The area between the rivers is packed with restaurants and nice shops and a few historic sites.

There was also to my great surprise and pleasure, a Hard Rock Cafe.

By the time we got back to the hotel, we had walked 8 km. - a nice hike and recovered before setting out for dinner at Paul Bocusse's Gare de L'Est, a restaurant (brasserie) we have actually eaten in before. This is the former East Train station for Lyon, so has a nice train theme going with a little train circumnavigating the room. Dawn had the menu tonight with a market salad, followed by hake (fish) and then strawberry tart, while Brigitte and I had veal liver. This was a good case for going with the menu which with three courses was less money than our liver. We walked there and back - another two kilometres so we can up the walking total today to the big 10.

It's been a great trip through the Auvergne, but we are now looking forward to some R&R in Cairanne.