20261016 LYON. We stow the bikes for the winter and start walking in brilliant sunshine.

The first order of business on Friday morning was to ride the bikes from the Radisson Cru in downtown Lyon to the Home Box storage facility about six kilometres away. Most of the ride was on bike paths nicely delineated from the cars with concrete barriers. Why can’t we have nice things like that in Toronto?

When we come back in the Spring, we’ll pick up the bikes at Home Box and continue on our way to …. <still under negotiation>. Feel free to suggest!

We folded John’s bike, mine fit the space perfectly (John’s bike is longer, of course.) Laid out all of the items that we’re leaving here for the winter, made an “inventory” video for ourselves (we can never remember if we left sunscreen, or gloves, for example), then closed the door on our trusted pals.

Locker 20. Ground level.

These are the faces of two people happy that they managed 1464 kilometres spread over 29 rides from September 19 – October 16, from Edinburgh to Lyon. 35 days from leaving Toronto to returning.

Not our longest trip ever, distance-wise (that was 1757 kilometres from Bordeaux to Lisbon in May 2024) or duration-wise (that was in October/November 2024, 42 days ending on November 22 and that was definitely too late in the season. We were snowed on in Chartres. Dangerous riding conditions. Never again! Click here if you’d like to re-live that hellaciousness.)

At any rate, Edinburgh to Lyon has been a fabulous trip! Those ICE recumbent trikes have been a real game-changer in our vacation-adventures.

After leaving Home-Box, we took the tram (1/2 hour ride, 2 Euros, swipe your Visa card, it couldn’t be easier) to the train station to check things out for Monday morning, since we’ll be taking a train at 5 a.m.

On the ride back into Lyon we saw some murals.

Lyon has so many murals primarily due to a social movement initiated in the 1970s by students who left the elitist Fine Arts School to create CitéCréation, a cooperative dedicated to making art accessible to the public in poorer neighborhoods. This artistic initiative was amplified by the city’s political leadership, specifically Mayor Michel Noir, who launched programs in the 1980s to rejuvenate the city’s image by transforming blank, industrial facades into vibrant open-air galleries.

The murals serve as a tool for community rehabilitation and local pride, with CitéCréation employing a participatory approach where residents help design the art to reflect their neighborhood’s specific history and identity. This model was so successful in revitalizing areas like the Quartier des États-Unis and Croix-Rousse that it turned Lyon into the French capital of mural painting, with the city now boasting over 150 to 200 monumental frescoes and murals.

The murals are indeed beautiful. You know what is not beautiful? That brutalist blight on the landscape, the National Orchestra of Lyon building. Although, I do like the amphitheatre that is between the Orchestra building and the Radisson, probably a nod to Lyon’s roots as a Roman city? There are always people sitting on the steps chatting, enjoying a sandwich, enjoying the sunshine. And there is a still a Roman amphitheatre up on the hill that I can see from our hotel window.

Lugdunum was the ancient Roman name for Lyon, France, founded in 43 BCE by Lucius Munatius Plancus. It served as the capital of Gallia Lugdunensis and was the most important city north of the Alps, renowned for its status as the only city outside Rome permitted to mint gold and silver coins.

Key features of Roman Lyon included:

• Strategic Location: Situated at the confluence of the Rhône and Saône rivers, it was a central hub for trade and military logistics.
• Major Monuments: The city featured the Fourvière Roman Theatres, the Odeon, and the Amphitheater of the Three Gauls in Croix-Rouss (which we made a point of seeing, on Saturday, thanks to a nod from Will).
• Infrastructure: It boasted the largest aqueduct complex in the empire outside Rome and housed a massive imperial coin workshop.
• Legacy: Today, the Musée Gallo-Romain and the preserved ruins on Fourvière Hill are part of the UNESCO World Heritage site, highlighting Lyon’s pivotal role in Roman Gaul. 

In short, the Romans were in Edinburgh, where we started this trip, and they were here in Lyon, where we’re finishing.

After checking out the train station we popped into the hotel to change clothes (it was hot out!), John hoovered what was left of our Les Halles Market haul from last night, and then we set out on foot to explore the city. We had been here in 2013 with Will and Anna and Anna’s brother Tom.

And Patti had been here in October 2010 on a riverboat cruise with Jean Stilwell, courtesy of Classical 96.3FM (we played a couple of concerts on the boat somewhere around Avignon). I wish I could find the murals of the jazz musicians and Mahler!

Like any good tourists would, we headed to the Tourist Information building in the Place Bellecour square. Little did we know on Friday what would happen to that building on Saturday. (Stay tuned, it’s in our next post.) Being a fan of food, I insisted that John take my picture with the statue of Paul Bocuse – “the pope of gastronomy” – inside the building. Good thing he did, because it was part of the sad activities on Saturday. (No spoilers, though, it’s in the next post.)

We were consulting John’s handwritten notes about places we might like to see, and also winging it.

It was hot in the late afternoon sun!

“Walked in to a church, we passed along the way..” we admired the beautiful clock. This is St.-Jean Cathedral, where Marie de Medici married Henry IV in 1600.

This is the view from the front door of the cathedral. The church up there on the hill is Lyon’s famous – and exquisitely ornate – basilica.

Street scenes: there is often delight in the details.

Street scenes: don’t forget to look up.

I love pretty storefronts.

When we had just about given up on finding it, we finally stumbled onto a square – Place des Terreaux – we had been looking for, having remembered it – and a particular bouchon/restaurant – from our 2013 trip. In particular we remembered the spectacular Bartholdi statue (the magnificent horses represent the power of the rivers). (Bartholdi also created NYC’s Statue of Liberty.)

b.t.w. “bouchon”: A bouchon is a type of restaurant found in Lyon, France, that serves traditional Lyonnaise cuisine, such as sausages, coq-au-vin, “salade lyonnaise”, duck pâté or roast pork. Compared to other forms of French cooking such as nouvelle cuisine, the dishes are quite hearty. There are approximately twenty officially certified traditional bouchons, but a larger number of establishments describe themselves using the term.

Typically, the emphasis in a bouchon is not on haute cuisine but, rather, a convivial atmosphere and a personal relationship with the owner.”

The bouchon – L’Etage – where we had eaten an exquisite meal in 2013 was still there! (Read about it, here.)

Check out the menu and the prices, below.

John opted, instead, to have an ice-cream cone.

People: it was Rum and Raisin like you’ve never tasted. He’s supposed to be avoiding alcohol but I’m fairly certain you couldn’t share this particular cone with a child. Mmmmmm, that rum…. For lack of a better word, it was boozy.

John went in to tell the owner of how much he had enjoyed the cone, and moments later, the owner appeared at the table with a freshly made, hot waffle, drizzled in Nutella!!! It was divine, and I’m not even dessert-y.

We sat there in the shade enjoying pre-dinner desserts and the whole time we were there – 15 minutes? – this young woman stood in the centre of the square taking numerous selfies of herself. An influencer? Just bored? We see this a lot. It makes me laugh.

We admired more colour on our walk back to the hotel – the light is beautiful at that time of the day – and then passed our landmark, the fresco of Paul Bocuse.

John was full of the Les Halles Marche leftovers he’d hoovered at lunch and an ice-cream cone and waffle. I was happy to have a couple of glasses of wine in the room, skip dinner and go to sleep, because….

Saturday was to be the dread “manifestation”, a.k.a. 17Octobre*. A massive protest by a number of angry and frustrated factions all across France. Little did we know what was coming…

*17 October 2026 refers to a major day of social mobilization and civil unrest in France, initially organized as a convergence of protests against the cost of living, youth education reforms, and climate policies, but which quickly escalated into widespread urban riots.

The day was marked by significant violence, including the incineration of the town hall in Limoges, the sacking of the town halls in Marseille and Lille, and attacks on public buildings and police forces. The mobilization involved a diverse coalition, including Yellow Vests, students, lyceans, agricultural workers, and trade unions like the CGT, who had called for over 1,500 actions across the country, such as roadblocks and demonstrations.

Key outcomes and statistics from the day include:

Political Fallout: Mayors of Paris, Marseille, and Lyon demanded urgent meetings with Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu to address the lack of police resources, while the violence became a focal point in the lead-up to the 2027 presidential election.

Massive Police Response: Authorities deployed water cannons, tear gas, and specialized units (CRS 8) to manage the unrest, with Interior Minister Sébastien Lecornu announcing 1,200 arrests and 150 police and gendarmerie injuries nationwide.

High Detention Numbers: The Paris judicial authority reported 517 custody cases (including 171 minors), while Lyon recorded 160 and Limoges 17, with the IGPN (internal affairs) launching investigations into serious injuries, such as a teenager losing a hand to a grenade in Saint-Étienne.

International Context: The date coincides with the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, established by the UN, which in 2026 focused on the theme of “Safe housing for all” and human rights, though the French events were dominated by domestic socio-economic grievances rather than this official observance.

Stay tuned. (We’re fine!)