A Walk in the Park

Today was a big day.

Claire finished The Hunger Games!

I ate four pieces of brioche, 2 bowls of Special K Straciatella (which is like ice cream), and four lollipops. 

Things I have learned about France on this trip that I didn't know before

1. Students go to school from 8am - 6pm.

2. Cigarettes are an introduced french habit.... cigarettes came from america

3. The French Paradox is a real thing!

It has been deceptively cold these last few days, but around three yesterday, the rain stopped and the sun came out, so, with the book done, we headed out.

Lyon is the food capital of France and obviously, there are some very famous chefs that come from here. Paul Bocuse is one of the them. He has multiple restaraunts in the city including four brasseries: The North, The West, The East, and The South. Each serve food influenced by the respective regions.

Here is the outside of The East.

Saw this walking down the street. Didn't remember that braille came from France. I several times, have made the joke that these people are victims are their inbreeding and hence, they come up with things like Braille to cope. Blind people everywhere thank you, French.

Walking some more, came to a line of presidential candidate posters. Here, unlike the US where we have two parties and a candidate from each party, they have a ton of people who run, and then they have elections to narrow it down. Like a primary works, but way more than just two platforms that people have to fit into, or onto, haha. So the candidates are really different. Here are three of them.

 Don't these look like movie posters or book covers?

 Here's Sarkozy!

And Marine Le Pen. She's a bit extreme. She has the Noah's ark view on immigration. There are too many foreign people in France, so they need to be flushed out. Not too extreme I guess, but this includes people on visas as well. Hmm.

After about a half hour, we made it to the park! Lyon has this massive park, it's really similar to central park, but this one has a sprawling botanical garden and a zoo inside. You don't even realize that you are in a zoo, but you're walking, and then there are reindeer next to you or some other type of animal that doesn't normally belong in a park.

This was funny. Claire is funny. So here is a tree.

 A closer look at the tree.

Even closer.... whoa, those are sharp! And then Claire says, "It's from Iran, I'm sure it's dangerous!"

Animals!

More animals!

And then there is a large pond in the park as well. It was so nice!

An overly friendly duck!

A cool tree. Isn't the bark neat colors?

Side note. It's funny that I am taking all of these pictures. So not like me. Usually, I hate having my camera... it's embarrassing.

 A bike track in the park!

So this was weird. Claire and I were trying to figure out how this truck works and what it possibly could be used for. Then we realized... it satisfies the age old questions, "What is it? It's art!"

 More art

And then we got hungry and thirsty. Well I was going to collaspe... see what I had eaten for breakfast above. So, here, I had a peche greek yogurt, which was really, really, good, a pain au chocolate, and a soda. Wow... the day of healthy eating continues!

 Le Hunger Games!

 Marisa, took these for you!

 Playmobile! Remember these!

Ballet store for Milds!

Here we have the "Circle of Silence." The woman in blue was shocked that we have never heard of it. Basically, it is a bunch of people, who stand in a circle, to protest the deportation and jailing of illegal immigrants. Quite a position but ya know. The exact opposite of Marine Le Pen.

 It was odd though, because everyone, and I mean everyone, who was taking part in the "Circle of Silence," was old. Really old. So bizarre.

 See their gray hair!

We stayed at the place for a while watching the silent circlers, and then headed off to get a drink while we waited for it to get later so we could eat dinner.

Paul Bocuse - The North!!! And they had Magret de Canard on the daily menu!

This wine was one of the cheepest on the menu and it was so delicious!! When we told to waiter we wanted to who bottle, he looked at us like we were crazy, double checked, and then laughed.  He ended up giving us our coffee for free at the end. I wonder why?

Oh no! I have turned into one of those people who posts pictures of what they are eating! Ugh! Anyway, I took these really quick, in hopes that no one would see.

 Salade du Marche.This was good. It was apples, fennel, and lettuce with a mustard vinagrette.

Ham put together with parsley gelatin. Sounds gross, but it was great!

Yes! Magret de Canard!! 

Side of fries!

And rhubarb and strawberry tarte for dessert.

 Followed by our free coffee with valrhona chocolates!

It was a good day!