the parentals visit lyon

two days after i returned to lyon, my parents joined me for a day and a tour of my new life. i met them at my favorite place, parc de la tete d'or, because they actually arrived while i was still in class, and i figured it would be a good place for them to be able to wander around while they waited for me to show up. turns out that particular class has a habit of getting out early, so i actually met up with them sooner than expected. i was impressed by how quickly i actually found them considering i was early and my plan to have us meet up next to the giraffes turned out to be slightly flawed since the giraffes happened to be nowhere in sight!
seeing as they had all their bags with them and i wasn't feeling particularly well, it kind of worked out. i was able to lie down on a bench in the sun and relax while they were able to wander around the park for awhile without having to haul around all of their stuff. i'm pretty sure i even fell asleep for a minute while they were exploring!
once they had gotten their fill, we continued with the tour. we left the park the way i had instructed them to enter (they were very sneaky and figured out a different way to get from the train station to the park than the directions i had provided), and headed toward the metro. we stopped buy a supermarket real quick on the way to grab some water and cheese that would be part of our lunch up at fourviere.
one metro and five stops later we arrived at bellecour. i introduced them to the ferris wheel and the louis XIV statue and we continued on our way toward the saone, vieux lyon and finally fourviere. along the way i pointed out where kirstin used to live and grabbed a flute from the boulangerie next door.
we decided to take the funiculaire up to fourviere where my parents got a chance to see the amazing view that is this wonderful city. then we sat on a bench, ate our lunch, and they explored the church while i took opportunity number two to watch their stuff and relax.
i was so glad it was such a beautiful day out, because it would have been a bummer if it were gloomy for the one day they were in town.
we continued our journey by walking down the hill wandering through the gardens and seeing more of a view from a slightly lower perspective. we walked through vieux lyon, i pointed out my favorite pastry shop in the area, and they took it all in.
then we hopped on a metro and took it all the way to perrache so that i could have them walk down both pedestrian streets (rue victor hugo and rue de la republique) and see most of the presqu'il arriving at hotel de ville where we would be meeting up with my host dad.
since we had some time to kill i showed them place de terreaux and we went to a cafe. oh yea, it had started raining during our walk, so since we were all kind of tired we decided to just spend our extra time in a cafe where we would stay dry.
finally it was time to meet my host dad in front of hotel de ville. he showed up and my parents were happy to hear he had brought the car so they could ditch their bags for the rest of the evening.
then with his electoral powers he got us inside hotel de ville after hours so that my parents could see lyon's own smaller version of versaille. some of the lights were off, but hey, at least we got in!
next up was checking out the chamber of commerce, which i'd never been inside before. once again he managed to get us in after hours! that's right, i know people in high places ;)
at this point my host mom came and joined us as well. we ventured into the church that i guess my host mom's parents had been married in. another place i had never actually been inside before!
luckily our next destination was a restaurant, because i was starting to get hungry. we went to la meuniere which is a bouchon lyonnais restaurant. which basically means they only serve typically lyonnais food.
dinner was delicious. i got chicken. and there was some cheesy pasta as well for everyone. and of course some lyonnais sausages to start us off. but it was dessert that was the most exciting of course. mom and i split both a chocolate mousse and a tarte au praline. which were both amazing. though the tarte au praline was soooo rich and sugary that i kind of wished we hadn't split half and half, because i would have rather had a little more mousse since i couldn't even finish my part of the tarte!
eventually it was time to head home. we didn't want to stay out toooo late because i had a midterm the next morning and mom and dad were heading out pretty early as well. but we came back to the house, chatted for a while, figured out exactly when my parents' train was leaving and printed their tickets. my host parents were very impressed by my mom's french the whole time and told me i have to speak french with her when i get home! haha
the next morning i was very impressed when i didn't even hear my parents moving around until my mom came upstairs again to wake me up just before they were leaving. turns out my host dad would drive them to the train station instead of helping them with the tram since it was pouring rain. luckily that disappeared by the time i had to head to class an hour later :)
so their visit came to an end which was a tiny bit sad, but i was excited to finally return to my lyonnais life after a week and a half of crazyness!