French Friday

Bonjour, mes amies,
After working yesterday so nicely my camera connection is being fussy again, but you can check out the shot I took of the Coronation Coach under A Royal Day out.
Lyon is France's second city, and even the Parisians recognize the place as the Gastronomy Capital of France, and thus, according to the French, of the Entire Galaxy.  Lyon is also a city of two rivers, and I crossed them both!
I didn't have any particular plans today beyond visiting Les Halles de Paul Bocuse and walking around.  Let's start with the food, shall we?  Half a block and across the street is this fabulous covered (and upscale) market named after the legendary chef and Lyon native Paul Bocuse.  He also has a culinary award named after him--the Bocuse d'Or, so you know the offerings are going to be good.
But Youza!  I got there early so the place was fairly empty of customers and not all the stands were open, but was displayed was--spectacular!  What do you want?  Fruit and vegetables?  Fish?  Meat?  Charcuterie?  Cheeeeeeese!!! SUGAR? The pastries are works of art.  Even the makings of a nice mezze or as we French say apero, something I am going to have to look into on a future visit.
Did you do anything but gawk and drool, Pil?
Yes!  I bought stuff, and I spoke (very elementary) French.
Ok. Spill.  What did you get?
I got two croissants--the real kind made with butter.  Do not buy crescent shaped croissants! I got some of that divine lait cru (raw milk) demi sel (lightly salted) butter from Pascal Bellevaire, and I got a small St. Marcellin cheese, something for which Lyons is famous.  The croissants are in my freezer.  We French like to have them for our weekend petite dejeuner.  Real French people dunk them in cafe au lait.  Fake French people comme moi slather them with butter.
After stashing my take I lit out for the city center and the tourist information office.  I am here for three weeks, so I was not in a rush to go see tourist sights. As I said Lyon is a city of two rivers, and the first one I came to was the gently flowing Rhone.  I crossed it to the Presqu'ile which is the peninsula between the two rivers.  I easily found the tourist office and was immediately provided with a map of the city.
Lyon is a very handsome city--or at least the parts of it I saw were.  There are some lovely squares with charming fountains, but I had another river to cross.
But oh. There was a market on the near bank of the Saone.  I had to make a detour and walk through it.  It was busy, and while not as elegant as Les Halles, the offerings looked pretty comprehensive and tasty to me.  There wasn't any pastry, but it seemed like every single street had at least one bakery or patisserie with enticing displays.
I eventually crossed the Saone via a pedestrian bridge and came upon some cobbled pedestrianized streets.  I was in the Tourist Zone, so it was fun to lick some windows.  I also purchased some fancy extra virgin olive oil and something I will reveal to you tomorrow at breakfast.
Then I headed back.  Despite the map I got lost coming home.  Sigh.  Citadines is rather tucked away.  I'll figure it out one of these days.
But I wanted to prepare for the weekend so I grabbed by shopping bag and went supermarket hunting at the Cours LaFayette, which is a giant shopping mall not too far from me.  I carefully noted landmarks this time, but once I entered the mall, I could not find the groceries at first.  I had a good look around the store, too.  There were a lot of what I'd call processed food, but there was also a lot of traditional stuff.  There was a whole aisle dedicated to snacks for the apero.  This is a concept I can really get behind. I came home with some pasta among other things, so I could try out my fancy olive oil.
So it's pasta fresca of a kind I'd never seen? filled with ham and dressed with salt, garlic powder, and the olive oil and served with chilled rose.  It's not exactly French, but it's still nice!