Lyon

     Saturday morning we all woke up around 9am and got in a 9 person van to head off to Lyon. It was about an hour and half long drive but it seemed to go by so quickly because the drive was beautiful! Once we got there we had a little trouble finding our way to the hostel, but we went winding up this big hill to see the most beautiful view and our hostel! There were 13 of us from the school visiting Lyon together, 9 of us rented a van and then 4 other people drove in a separate car. At the hostel we stayed in three rooms, one room that housed six people, one for four, and one for three. I stayed in the room with six people. It was the cutest little place. It wasn't even like anything I had been expecting. You walk in and there were two sets of bunk beds immediately against the right wall, a shower and sink to your left, a window over looking the city straight ahead and a stair case above the sink that led up to a loft with two beds and a sink. They also had a bar and a kitchen available along with a large sitting area to just relax and use the free wifi. There were people from all over there. I guess these types of hostels are very popular in these types of areas because they're cheap (20 euro) and convenient. All the backpackers that travel around Europe stay at these very frequently, so it was cool to see the types of people that come through there.
   

After we dropped off our bags we headed into Old Lyon and walked around there. We went into an old church that was covered in pictures made entirely of tile. It was amazing. All the old buildings are so intricate and detailed.

Selfie I took with Kendall over looking all of Lyon.

Beautiful hanging lights in front of a cuterie in an open market in Lyon. The whole market was amazing. It was just booth after booth of fresh meats, cheeses, desserts, seafoods, and wine. It was basically a farmers market in doors, so incredible. The amount of fresh foods that they offer here is amazing, they have little to no processed foods in these places. Such a change from American markets.

Me and a few other girls stopped at one of the booths that also had seating for some seriously fresh food. We had oysters, shrimp, bread, and supposedly the best butter in all of France. The oysters were so SO good. They were so much sweeter than they are in the states. And the butter really was the best butter I've ever had. (And yes, that sounds weird because who even thinks that much into butter... but it was so good. Had so much flavor packed into it!) 

After we left the market we went back to the hostel to get ready for a night out on the town. We headed into Lyon and found a place for dinner. We had some slight difficulties because we were a group of 8 and trying to eat with out a reservation. We ended up at a place called Pique Assiette, we order three bottles of wine for the table and some people got appetizers. There was french onion soup, poached eggs, veal terrine, and an assorted meat sampler. We all shared and let everyone try everything, it was really exciting eating with fellow foodies like that for the first time. Once our entrees came out it was like a feeding frenzy. We were all gasping and oohing and aahing at the plating and flavors. I got ravioli with three different sauces; mushroom, pesto, and cheese. The mushroom and cheese one were delicious and creamy, but the pesto one I didn't care for as much. Other people got braised lamb, prawns, blood sausage shepards pie, lentils, and pig intestine. We didn't realize it was pig intestine until we googled it when we got back to the castle the next day, but we all tried it so.. hah It tasted like petting zoo! Everything else was delicious though, the lamb was really seriously good. We also got some desserts, naturally, there was creme brulee, sorbets, and a souffle. It was all SO good. After we left dinner we walked around hopping from bar to bar, until it got too late and headed back to the hostel. The view at night from the hostel was simply breath taking. (pictured above)

The next morning we went into town to grab a quick bite to eat, I got a ham sandwich on freshly baked bread and a coffee milkshake. I thought that I was ordering 'iced coffee' but then a milkshake came out, so I went with it. Hah Then we walked around and visited a pretty well known chocolate shop 'Chokola' it was so magical. They had roughly 30 different flavors of small chocolates you can buy, and they also had an entire wall that looked like a book case just filled with different kinds of chocolate bars. I walked out only spending 14 euro and I don't know how I managed that one! They also had an entire dress made out of chocolate, a chocolate water fall, and freshly made marshmellows!

After the chocolate shop we walked up the street some to another market, all these markets are so bright and beautiful and lively. Its so amazing to see all these people with their wicker baskets picking up fresh produce for the day. It appears that they have the opportunity to do so every morning! After the market we tried to find this really cool book store, but then they were closed so we made our way to a cafe for a light lunch. I got a salade lyonnaise that was mesculin greens with tomatoes, lardon (bacon), poached eggs, and croutons, it was so simple yet really fresh and delicious. Plus it was nice eating some healthy greens after all the bread and chocolate I had consumed through out the day. 

Today I didn't have lab, which was kind of a bummer. And it snowed last night so it's been really cold here. But today I had to take a food science class that was four hours long and then we had lunch, and a first aid class that was also four hours long. It is damn near impossible trying to listen to people that barely speak any English for four hours, I felt bad, but I was basically falling asleep the entire time. And I think I'm getting sick. So hopefully it's nothing serious and just a stuffy nose, but I'm drinking lots of water.

Well, I'm off to bed. Tomorrow I start a week of ice cream labs, excited to be making lots of ice cream bases this week! Au Revoir!