Where am I?

OK, I will be kind and give you a clue in extras. Up early this morning to drive to Narbonne, drop the car chez Aunt B, and catch the TGV to Lyon, last visited around 35 years ago. I’d booked into an Ibis only steps from the station, so it didn’t take long to drop our bags and, in my case, change into cooler clothes — S was already in his uniform of shorts, T-shirt, and running shoes. Then we walked to Papillonnes, the restaurant I’d selected for lunch. It’s only been open about 18 months and has a handful of reviews, but all of them are positive. Not many tables, young female chef — on her own today except for a kitchen assistant, so she was doing the serving. Three courses were 25 euros, and there was a vegetarian choice for all of them (though woe betide you if you were allergic to nuts!). Unusual combinations, even if I ended up effectively having pakoras for both my courses. I really enjoyed the potato ones with dukkah and two sauces and S’s asparagus with lavender was much nicer than it sounds. A lovely dessert with berries and red pepper jam. She only did eight covers, but this area seems very quiet at weekends — many other restaurants were closed. We walked back to the hotel and decided to have a quick snoozle.

Bad timing as when we woke up the sun had disappeared to be replaced by grey clouds. I also discovered after emptying my rucksack twice and S’s once that I had left my fleece at home. Not good when you are heading for the mountains. Luckily there was a huge Decathlon in the giant shopping centre nearby, so we headed there first — mission successful. The hotel is quite far from the centre, so then we caught a bus to the old part of town to go for a stroll before finding something to eat.

We got off the bus by the river, greeted by gusts of cold wind, threatening black clouds, and flashes of lightning. We just had time to dash to the bridge and take some photos before it started spitting rain. S, still in shorts and T-shirt, was cool with this, but in my thin sleeveless dress I was seized by panic and dragged him into the nearest bar. It turned out to be a Cuban themed place and I had a mocktail featuring rosemary, pomelo, hibiscus, peach juice, and tonic water. It was gorgeous, really refreshing.

By the time we’d finished our drinks, it was really raining. Tour of old Lyon abandoned, we got the bus back to near the hotel, and the sun started peeking through the clouds. I was still glad of my handily acquired fleece. We walked to the Brasserie des Brotteaux , a beautiful art nouveau building, and by virtue of being early got the only unreserved table. We constructed a light meal by virtue of S ordering a small salmon starter and me ordering a large platter of cold roast beef, salad, and fried potatoes. Very classic, and nothing else needed after we’d eaten that. A digestive walk back to the hotel in lovely evening light (blip). Onward tomorrow.