One of the best parts of traveling, in my opinion, is getting to bring people to the places you like so much, and I was for sure going for that when Adam visited! He had never been to Lyon or anywhere in the Rhone Alpes region, so I was super excited to show him the city that made me want to apply for TAPIF, Lyon, and in addition the city that I have to pass through every. single. time. I want to leave Oyonnax! (For those of you wondering, that is Bourg-en-Bresse!).
Bourg-en-Bresse
The main place I wanted to take Adam was the Royal Monastery of Brou that I first visited in October. Its free for EU residents under 26, and so we enjoyed exploring the monastery and grounds together.
Lyon
I absolutely had to show Adam around one of my absolute favorite cities in France, and my first choice of academie when applying to TAPIF! We covered a lot of ground in the one day we were there- climbed to the Notre Dame de Fourviere Basilica, explored Vieux Lyon, walked along the Saone River, checked out Roman ruins, St Jean Cathedral, and even managed to meet up with an old friend of Adams!
Stumbled upon a bust of good old Thomas Jefferson- basically declaring that when he was Ambassador to France he admired the Saone River
gorgeous view from the Saone
overlooking my favorite spot in Lyon
the beautiful basilica
ancient Roman amphitheater- which still has concerts! Elton John played here once
yellow/orange winding streets of Vieux Lyon
Of courses, what would a trip to Lyon be without a stop for some pastries??? Marzipan is famous in Lyon, and if you know me at all you’ll know I really had no choice but to have some…
St Jean Cathedral- where I watched the Festival of Lights back in 2013
As I mentioned above, we got to meet up with a friend of Adam’s! His high school had done an exchange program during school breaks, and a French student he had met during that time was living in Lyon! He was very nice, easy to talk to in both French and English, and it was fun to have a local’s eye on Lyon (especially when we got lost….)
Place Bellecour
Hotel de Ville
It was so wonderful showing Adam around Lyon- although we did end up missing our train….
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
A Wanderlust Dossier 