Rain and Lyon (1 October 2024)

 

Hotel des Messageries

Rain had been falling steadily and continued to do so for the journey to Lyon. I deliberately set the GPS to avoid the autoroutes, mostly to take our time going through the beautiful French countryside.  The only disadvantage was the narrow roads that at times struggled to fit a car and a truck on the same piece of tarmac.  Fortunately we did not have many of those times.  On the other had compared to New Zealand roads they were generally quiet as chip seal is not a feature of the roads of Europe.

 

Bev was wanting a coffee and as we came into a small village a boulangerie/bar beckoned.  It was also a good opportunity for me to have a break. 

 

The coffee was good and I managed to order a decaffeinated café au lait!  We had a bite to eat there as well.

 

The rain continued.  Eventually we were directed onto the motorway system into Lyon.  I had Bev giving me updates and providing the second set of eyes as I concentrated on keeping in the correct lanes so that we could get to our apartment.  Remarkably after what seemed like endless turns we ended up outside it.  Unfortunately there was no park available outside it.  I made a couple of turns and on the street parallel to our street I grabbed the first park I saw.  It was a relief to stop and catch my breath.  It is very stressful going into an unknown city, in a relatively unfamiliar car and driving on the “wrong side” of the road. 

 

After transferring our luggage to our very nice apartment we went for a walk to a supermarket to get a bit of food for the evening.  It also began the process of orientating ourselves to the area.

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