Lyon and the French Alps

      After a lovely time in Aquitane we left with plenty of time to reach Lyon by noon. Driving was easy sailing due to Kates quick adjustment to a standard in Montepulciano. With less than an hour to go and open roads we never expected the  hours more of driving to come. With a faulty address, a big city, traffic, and language barriers our four hour journey horribly turned into eight.  It was an exhausting five hours on top of the three we drove just to get outside the city.  Kate was a true superhero, I for sure would have crashed with all the stress and tension flying about. I will spare you the details, the nerves, and the costs of the whole experience and just say that it was the lowest point in our trip.... Luckily that meant things could only get better!
     After a good nights sleep we felt ready to explore Lyon. Obviously first on the agenda was the market. The selection was indescribable. All the sellers allowed us to taste juicy pieces of fruit and slices of cheese as they did their best to describe their selection in broken English.  It was so great and after a number of cheese samplings we dug in to wheels of St. Marcelin and Brilliant Savarin. Let me just say, W-O-W. Talk about luscious milky goodness! With it's creamy flavor and almost whipped consistency Brilliant Savarin is undoubtably the chocolate mousse of cheese. And then there is St.  Marcelin which melts on the tongue like the first lick of ice cream on a hot day. Ah, just pure satisfaction. Along with a number of other scrumptious meals and snacks we explored the beautiful city and fell in love with it's views, parks, and the old quarter where we spent most of our time. Small apartments, unique shops, crepe stands, and a tandoori kebab shop worth bowing to where just some of what made the preserved quarter so special.

    After sadly saying goodbye we hopped the train for Grenoble and then  Aix les Bains, a town that reminded me more of a Floridian retirement community than a French town in the Alps. Although different than expected it quickly became a place to call home as we decided to extend to our two night stay in to four. The lively older community were a blast to watch and lunch in the park,  2:00 coffee,  and bread and pastries from a bustling bakeshop became part of our daily routine. In addition to hiking a beautiful trail that provided one of the best views of my entire life we also  relaxed, planned for Paris, and per usual attended the weekly market. ( I swear if i didn't know any better I would say Kate planned our entire  trip around farmers markets!) Like always it was wonderful and provided new taste and flavors like rotisserie sausage and  Tome de Bauge cheese.

    The morning of our departure we were fortunate enough to find a laundry mat and spent the day getting our clothes spick and span...obviously we needed to make a good impression on our next stop, Paris!