France - Lyon

06/03/15 - 07/03/15

Spent a bit of a crash night in Lyon - approximately halfway from Disneyland Paris to Briancon, our next destination,  in the French Haute Alps. Out of necessity we opted for delivery takeaways - seemed terrible for a city that in modern times has developed a reputation as the capital of gastronomy in France and in the world.

The next morning we took a drive through the city, hoping to find a car park so we could go for a meander.  Lyon (UNESCO world heritage site) looked fabulous - we have visited a couple of times before but I don't think I realised how lovely it is. Failed on the car park so we headed over the river Saône and parked alongside a market on the riverbank. Was great to experience our first market in such a lovely setting. Came away with good supplies for a road trip picnic lunch. Boys mucked around with the water features on the riverbank. Lots of people exercising or out with their kids - looked like a very liveable city.

Lyon Riverside Food Market

Lyon Centre

 

Left Lyon for Briancon expecting a 3hr trip but arrived around 6hrs later. This was despite the speed limit of 130km(which the majority of drivers exceed considerably). A lot of changing lanes required as trucks have a limit of 90km, and there are a lot of trucks.
Absolutely amazed at the amount of traffic on the road - not even school holidays. We had to remind ourselves that there are about 65 million people in France. A lot of the trip from Lyon to Chambery was bumper to bumper. Every 'Aire' (service areas) was overflowing and had no-where to stop. We eventually managed to stop at one to eat our scrummy Lyon lunch supplies. I have to mention that this had the most odd-looking toilet I have seen on our trip. A squat toilet with a waterfall back and water that keep jetting out everywhere. I honestly had no idea where to put my feet (I couldn't figure how they wouldn't get drenched by jets). I thought better of trying to explain my dilemma in my uncomprehendable French to the queue on French women waiting. Testing out new acrobatic poses I managed!
Took a bit of getting used to the landrover, it is quite a wide car and of course the steering wheel is on the wrong side, but it drives well and is very comfortable.
Went through approx. 14 tunnels on this road trip, the longest being 13km in length(the 'Frejus Road Tunnel' which connects France and Italy, constructed 1974-1980, the 9th longest road tunnel in the world). Unknown to us it cost approximately $70NZD to go through. Before we entered we were handed a brochure with safety information - min 150m between vehicles, 70km speed limit, safety evacuation procedures - 11 safety points etc. Also unknown to us was that Italy was on the other side - the Italian roadsigns were the giveaway . Very windy last part of the trip, but amazing scenery - when I was brave enough to look over the cliffs. We passed through some amazing looking ski resorts/villages on the way. The boys started to get really excited. There were a lot of comments from the back seats when we drove under a bridge with people skiing over the top of it in Montgenèvre.
We were all pretty happy to reach our destination. An amazing looking town, but the boys were feeling a bit 'green'.