I started the morning with a leisurely breakfast from the dinner supplies I bought last night. I then head off up to the top of the hill to see the Roman ruins and visit the Gallo-Roman museum of Lyon. I thought about taking the funicular up to the top but thought I could use the exercise, and exercise is what I got. It was a steep climb.
I wandered around the remains of two theatres and the baths and then followed a path all around the top of the hill. Here is the marble orchestra pit in the smaller theatre. It features marble varieties from all around the Roman empire. If you have it, flaunt it, seems to have been the motto of the builders.
This scenic route was supposed to take 2 hours but only took me one. The museum doesn't open until 11am so I was killing time until then. The museum was well done with a free English audio guide that described all the major displays. My French was sufficient for the rest. The best bit was a scale model of the two hills the town is built on. There was an 8 minute video of the history of the founding of Lyon by the Romans where lights were used to highlight the areas on the model that were currently being talked about.
The only problem with the museum was its opening hour. After wandering around for a bit I realised I should have waited until the afternoon to visit. Most restaurants here only open from 12pm to 2pm for lunch. They take a dim view of anyone who shows up after 1:30pm wanting to be fed, so I had to leave the museum earlier than I wanted to. They had lots of mosaics in the museum and the shop had a kit for making your own, which I had to buy.
I headed back down the hill to the square where I had dinner my first night in Lyon. I thought about eating at Les Ventre Jaunes again since I enjoyed it last time but thought I should try something different. I chose another bouchon on the square. I had the French onion soup to start, which was harmless. For main I chose the quenelles of pike with lobster sauce. Quenelles are light dumplings made of something mashed with egg whites which are then poached. I've only ever seen them made using tablespoons to form them. However, my quenelle was a single large log. Let us just say it looked like a sausage, since I am describing food. The sauce was bright orange and is made from the shells and other leftover bits of a lobster. The quenelle was as light as I had hoped, but very fishy. Why I wasn't expecting a dish made of fish to taste fishy is a mystery to me. For dessert I had the chocolate fondant, i.e. a chocolate self-saucing pudding. However, it was overcooked and the middle was solid. It was tasty and the chocolate ganache that came with it was delicious. Still, I should have gone to Les Ventre Jaunes again.
After lunch I visited the Museum of Fabric and the Museum of Decorative Arts (they are on the same site). Lyon is famous for its silk. The museum on the history of the silk workers is supposed to be better but it is harder to get to. The Fabric museum was ok, but mainly just room after room of amazing silk fabrics. I would have liked more information on how silk fabric is made. There was a little about Jacquard looms but that was it. The best part were examples of silk clothing from the 17th and 18th century. Women were so tiny in those days. Below is one of the dresses. I'm sure the fabric cost a fortune but it looks like it has boils. Not flattering at all.
I didn't like the Museum of Decorative Arts so much. These are ususally just the sort of museum I like as it is all furniture and household objects. However, the French style is much more ornate than suits my taste. There was hardly anything I would have liked to take home with me.
On the way back to my apartment I walked through the big square here - Place Bellecour. They were having a local food festival where local producers were showing their wares. Each stall was by the local farmer so each only displayed one type of item. There were stalls with salamis, cheese, honey and, of course, wine. However, there were also some speciality stalls, including 2 different ones just with snails, one who just sold lentils, one with herbs and one poor sod trying to show off his onions and garlic. As Tony Abbott wasn't in town, nobody was interesting in eating a sample of his wares.
For dinner I went to Les Lyonnais Bouchon as it is one of only 20-odd bouchon in Lyon who can "officially" call themselves a bouchon. Singles or couples who came in off the street without a reservation were seated at a big communal table in the middle of the restaurant. Probably more typical of how a traditional bouchon would have been back in the day. My neighbour was a woman from northern France who was in town for a training course. The waiters stopped by to chat too when they had the time. A very pleasant evening from a social point of view.
The food was not bad, but I still prefer Les Ventre Jaunes (which is not an "official" bouchon). For entree I had the house terrine which came with onion confit, cornichons and a green salad when a good, sharp dressing. It was OK but the terrine was a bit bland. For main I had Gateau de Foie de Volaille Maison, which translates as chicken liver cake. I had thought it would be layers of pastry and pate but it was just a puck of pate with a tomato sauce. Very tasty but the accompanyments were just some fried mushrooms and plain rice. That seemed to be the standard sides for all the main courses. The restaurant says it makes all its entrees and mains in-house but I could see into the kitchen and both the stock and the frites came from packets. For dessert I had the cafe gourmand so I could sample several desserts. I was served a scoop of sweetened cream topped with salted caramel (too sweet and rich), half a chocolate fondant (very good), an espresso cup of panna cotta (too sweet again), a decent (but unnecessary) creme caramel and an excellent creme brulee. I am now gently digesting rather like an overfed snake.
Ha ha ha! Hope the snake has digested its meal.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you had a good museum day today. Pity you couldn't stay longer at the Roman museum.