Burgundy - une disastre trés chère

Here's how the trip should have gone:

Jane making a wish on le petite couhette

Beautiful Place de Rude

We spent a lovely day in Dijon - even though it was a Sunday there were shops open and a lovely market and our very cheap and nice hotel was right near the Palais des Ducs. We sat sipping drinks in the Place de Rude (named after the sculptor not after any naughty activities) and took an historic walking tour where we learnt about the little owl - the symbol of the town etc and the activities of the Dukes of Burgundy - all with great names like Richard the Nice, John the Even Nicer. The next day we headed to Lyon for two days where we enjoyed fantastic food and the beautiful historic old town Vieux Lyon and then we took a day trip to Vienne - the sun was shining the birds were tweeting.........

Place de la Liberation

OH HANG ON NO THEY WEREN'T IT WAS A BLOODY DISASTER....This is what actually happened...

FIRST LESSON OF FIGHT CLUB.....dont book a train until you have somewhere to stay and don't go anywhere that hosting both rugby and a large convention at once (we didn't know about the latter).

Long story short, the first part of the story is true - Dijon was lovely - but as for Lyon we could not find anywhere to stay at all - and I mean at all - you may think we are exaggerating but we werent and the site of peple in the train station with their bags and grim faces said it all - If K and I hear the announcement music or Lyon train station again we may fly into a murderous rage. The tourist office said it was pretty much full up (they should have said CHANGE YOUR TICKET NOW AND STAY IN DIJON AS YOU WILL NEVER FIND A PLACE TO STAY NOT EVEN A HOSTEL BED AND ALL YOU WILL SEE ARE INTERNET CAFES WHERE YOU WILL TRY AND FIND PLACES AND PHONE BOXES WHERE YOU WILL CALL PLACES)

Lyon station not amused

We spent the night in an expensive hotel by the train station. We spent the whole rest of the day trying to find somewhere else to stay even out of town in Vienne but they seemed suprised that their little town was full too! And then it started to pour with rain not just a little but buckets and lightening. The next day the weather was awful but we had luckily secured one more night at the hotel (well lucky for their bank account). We decided to get out of Lyon and go to Vienne, a lovely little town nearby on the train. We had a lovely meal and looked at the Romanesque sites.

Vienne

Beautiful plat de jour

Vienne

Cake in Vienne

We basically then got the hell out of Lyon (but again we pass no judgement as we saw nothing of it) - in hindsight we would have been happy staying in Dijon for more time (we like little places) and going to Beaune for the day but hindsight is a wonderful thing....

We are now in Avignon so stay tuned for the South of France chapter!!

written by  JaneandKristian on September 19, 2007 from Lyon, France
from the travel blog: Jane and Kristian's honeymoon
tagged Burgundy
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