2014 Travels: Lyon

Coming from three weeks in Paris, I didn’t think Lyon would be a challenge to navigate. How wrong I was. Just getting to my hotel was a mission. For whatever reason, my brain stopped working the minute I stepped off the train and onto the platform.
I had roughly three hours to check in, grab dinner and be back in my room before it was too dark. Usually if you’re with someone going out after dark isn’t the biggest of deals. If you are by yourself, just don’t do it. It’s not worth it.Needless to say, I was panicking because time was ticking and I still couldn’t figure out where I was supposed to be. With all of my accommodation, I tried to book close enough to the train station. I did book a place in Lyon near a train station, but not the first one I got off at.  After torturing an elderly couple with my extremely bad French for 30 minutes, they figured out where I was supposed to be. Directly on the other side of the road, obviously.It was one of the nicest hotel I had stayed in thus far on my trip. Right next to a river, black out curtains, the plushest duvet, and a claw foot bath. All big ticks in my book. I can’t remember why I had stopped at Lyon when I was in France. There was nothing standout about it. A little city between Paris and Marseille. It could have been the unimportance of the city that made me realise I was feeling tired. Not the tired that sleep could mend. Travel tired. I needed something to inspire me. So I did the most out of character thing I could think of and hired a bike.I spent the better part of two days riding up and down the city rivers of Lyon. The season was just beginning to fall comfortably into winter here. It was cold, very cold.I caught my reflection on a glass window, and couldn’t help but laugh at my disheveled state. A wonderful thing about being in another country is that nobody knows who you are and what you usually look like. For the past few months I was sporting a tight bun and minimal makeup. I liked the anonymity. I decided to ride until there was no longer any path left. This led me to a set of massive gates with a growling lions head insignia in the middle, not unlike those of Buckingham Palace. It was a park. A park with animals. Really weird assortment of animals, too. From flamingos to red pandas. It never even once dawned on me that perhaps riding a bike in what seemed to be zoo wasn’t the best idea. There were no signs stating otherwise. Which for me, granted all the permission I needed to pedal carefree through animal enclosures. From what I could gather from the French police officer, someone had reported me for disruptive behaviour and also because you’re not allowed in there with pushbikes? The first part of this report I thought was a joke, seeing as the park was near to completely empty. The people that were there, I stayed roughly 5 meters away from. And I got off my bike before getting close to the animals. So disruptive. The officer was kind enough to privately escort me to a bike friendly path within the park.