riverofcurios | only lyon

it cost each of us 2 pounds to travel to lyon -- highly attractive given that after booking fall break and december break tickets, we are Broke Students. the other day I checked my wally app and the amount I spent in September was staggering; I didn't even know I had that much money to begin with.

i find that most cities i visit after paris and london have the unfortunate fate of always being compared to, by no means of their own faults. in some ways, lyon was Any City, with its developed tram/bus/metro system and small size. for all its qualities that could easily be imitated elsewhere, there is still much to be said for watching a crazy beautiful sunrise atop fourvière hill, rollercoaster-esque rides upon the furnicular and running about old town finding the elusive traboules and beautiful courtyards. also that paris is so inherently associated with france that most other french cities always live in the shadow of paris, it was nice to visit my first french city outside of paris.

the typical french gardens are very classically beautiful -- symmetry and marble statues and grand fountains. despite their famed beauty and manicured images, i never find that they compare to london's parks, especially what with their irritating unpaved paths that could kick up sandstorms and coat my boots in dirt. but lyon's parc de la tête d'or was a nice surprise and a little reminiscent of hyde park, what with the ducks and deer roaming about. deer! they were so cute and so graceful and i've never seen them before -- it makes me want so badly to visit nara's deer park.