Fall 2019 Day 4

Our last full day in Lyon!  It goes quick!  We have really enjoyed it here. It’s a fantastic town to visit in France if you’re looking to steer clear of Paris. It’s big city life without big city feel. A great mix of old and new with a very young vibe!  We woke today and got a quick start. We went to Eric Kayser Patisserie this morning again, it’s so darn solid it’s hard to pass it up. Emily got her ham and cheese baguette sandwich, while I got my assortment of pastries. The almond croissant was very similar to ours and I loved it!  This year I’m into almond croissants for some reason, usually I’m always eating plain croissants and a financier here and there. Oh, these tough choices in France!! LOL  We took the funicular up the hill to finally see Notre Dame de Fourvière, the spectacular church I’ve taken so many pictures of from afar. WOW! That is one of the more spectacular churches I’ve ever seen, Emily says it was her favorite so far!  She cried quite a few times in there it was just so spectacular. It’s all dedicated to Mary, Our Lady. There’s lots of church’s that are dedicated to her but you won’t find many that really are totally about Mary and nobody else. There was hardly any Jesus inside!  It was covered top to bottom in mosaics and what spectacular mosaics they are!  It was built in the late 1800s so it’s not super old but that doesn’t mean they didn’t still know how to build an impressive neo-Byzantine church. Downstairs there was a smaller chapel dedicated to Mary’s earthly husband, Joseph, a rare thing. It even has a sculpture of Joseph holding baby Jesus, an even rarer thing and one of the only Jesus sightings in the whole church. It really was a church that lived up to the build up of seeing it all over the city looking up that hill and wondering what will it be like when we finally make it up there. There also was an amazing view of the city layout from there. If you forgot Lyon is a big city, you sure were reminded from that view!  It stretches on almost as far as you can see. After that we walked down the hill to the Roman Museum and the two Roman Theaters there. The hill we were on and the church is called Fourvière which means forum, the church was built on the site of the old Roman forum. And the proximity to the two theaters reminds you of the fact that this was a very important city in Roman times!  Every time we travel, it always seems there is something Roman!  They were everywhere. They built so much!  They were so smart!  It’s hard to fathom controlling as much area as they did as successfully as they did for as long as they did. Think of it in terms of America, we have had such a hard time holding our states together for 250 years and the Romans had a lot more land!  The museum was impressive, but sadly, we have seen SO many Roman museums that it’s hard to really blow our minds with our experiences. It’s moments like that where you realize how really lucky we are to be picky about things like that!  We looked at the two Roman theaters one big one that still holds 10,000 people and a smaller Odeon that is more intimate. We walked around and enjoyed them but said, the one in Orange is better, in Provence. Experience is a double edged sword sometimes! Either way, I’d rather have seen it all then be surprised each time. We took the funicular down and walked down the waterfront to find the Grand Synagogue of Lyon. It was a very large building, sadly, as with most synagogues in Europe it’s locked up and has high security because Anti-Semitism is so high here that they can’t just leave their doors open. I took a few pictures of the outside and touched the Mezuzah on the door and walked away wondering if we are heading towards that in America. 😔. We kept walking and bought some of the specialty chocolates of Lyon because nothing brightens moods like chocolate!!  They have a few chocolates that are special to here and very unique and enjoyable.  We had dinner tonight at the #1 restaurant according to TripAdvisor in Lyon. I did lots of research and this was the place we chose to make a reservation to a month ago for our last night in Lyon. So far, the food in Lyon has been really great, but I haven’t had that meal that made me know, for sure that Lyon is the food capital of France, as they say. With all the accolades tonight’s restaurant had, I was very hopeful we would have a really good meal to remember our time in Lyon by until we return. I wasn’t totally confident I would be able to have that experience due to my food issues and what the “Lyonnaise Specialties” are. Well, let me tell you, we just had the BEST MEAL OF OUR LIVES!!!!!  The best restaurant I’ve ever been to, PERIOD!  Anywhere I’ve been, anyplace I’ve gone, this is #1!!!  It’s a small little place with a very cute interior, the waitstaff was ready for us and perfectly attentive without being too attentive. We sat down at our small, close table with happy diners all around us!  We knew right away it was going to be good and possibly really good!  We ordered our starters and mains with house wine right away. I had veal cheeks with a potato and cheese foam. I was going to order another veal dish for my main but right before we ordered I saw the waiter bring this plate of food to someone that I swear looked like a pasty or something. I was quickly looking on the menu to figure out what it was. We asked the server and believe it or not, it was the fish quenelle or pike dumpling in a lobster bisque sauce with rice. I shocked Emily by changing my mind last second and ordering it!  Can you say Brian just ordered fish!?!?  I left my comfort zone!!  Emily ordered a soft boiled egg starter in a red wine sauce with mushrooms, onions and all sorts of good stuff and for her main she got pork belly over braised cabbage with bacon sauce. Ok, that sounds pretty amazing right there!  We got our starters and I ate mine and looked at Emily and just said, you’re gonna love this!  It was heavenly!  We switched starters halfway through so we both got to eat them and I said, yours is really good, but I think I win this course!  She totally agreed. Hers was fantastic, it was obvious that this chef is special!  He is bringing flavors and textures to his dishes that I’ve never seen!  I usually hate foams and overly complicated things, but this was done with touch and finesse so it wasn’t just a foam because they’re “cool” it was the perfect cloud like texture for mashed potatoes that almost floated away. The veal cheek was tender, rich and was the perfect thing to add density and flavor to the light cheesy potato foam. And to top it off, he had these little homemade croutons sprinkled on it that was the perfect crunch to make it a perfect dish!!  Emily’s was eggs very soft, which she usually isn’t a fan of. But, in this dish, with the red wine sauce and mushrooms and onions and it also had those amazing croutons sprinkled in. The runny white part, which is what she doesn’t like, wasn’t even noticeable. It was brilliant!  Now, we are excited for dinner because we know this chef is talented and that he gets what it takes to make a perfect dish!  Our meals come out and they look gorgeous!  I was waiting for Emily to take the first bite because mine was screaming hot!  She was obviously in heaven. The pork belly melted in your mouth, yet still had a crispy top. The sauce was very baconny, I don’t know if that’s a word but it was intense bacon which is never bad!  Even the cabbage was braised and chopped finely so it was just a perfect match. I took a bite of mine with a little trepidation, it is a fish dumpling after all. It was incredible!  One of the best bites of food of my life!  Nothing like the other fish dumpling we had. It had texture and flavor and a wonderful sauce. The rice was perfect for mixing with the lobster sauce. It was just simply heaven. I told Emily how good it was but waited Too until it was time to trade dishes to try each others. I handed her my plate and with a smile I watched her take her bite and smiled big and said, I won this one too!  She looked at me with a dreamy look and said, yes you did!!  I truly think I could never have another fish dumpling again, except from Bouchon Tupin. We will definitely be back and we hadn’t even had dessert yet!  We got the Tart a la Praline, the pink specialty of Lyon and a rice pudding that was also recommended by the waiter. Both were amazing but nothing could compare to the food we just ate!  And not only that, it was CHEAP!!!  Our cheapest meal in Lyon!  I can’t recommend a place higher than Bouchon Tupin!  BRAVO for rocking our world!!!  We took a slow walk back through our two favorite squares in Lyon and talked about life and the future and how lucky we are!  We got back to our room took a shower then packed because we are leaving first thing in the morning for Beaune in the Burgundy region. What a great way to end our time in Lyon!  A fantastic day and wonderful evening!  Tomorrow will be a new home and a new adventure!  We can’t wait!!!