Lyon.....

“I know of only one thing that you can do well in Lyon, and that’s eat,” the 19th-century French novelist Stendhal remarked.  France’s third-largest metropolis is still buried under a heap of food. No surprise. France’s most celebrated chef, the octogenarian Paul Bocuse, hails from Lyon, and the city’s bouchons — homey restaurants serving rustic, traditional cuisine — are famous countrywide.  Henri was on a mission and when that mission involves food Henri researches well.  With that in mind, two reservations were made for our arrival in Lyon, both restaurants said to be traditional "bouchons".  

A bouchon is a type of restaurant found in Lyon, France, that serves traditional Lyonnaise cuisine, such as sausages, duck pâté or roast pork. Compared to other forms of French cooking such as nouvelle cuisine, the dishes are quite fatty and heavily oriented around meat".  It should be mentioned that meat also mainly includes "offal"  (yes, that's pronounced just how it looks and to some OFFAL is Awful!

of·fal

ˈôfəl,ˈäfəl/

noun

1. the entrails and internal organs of an animal used as food.

   • refuse or waste material.
   • decomposing animal flesh

     
     

     
     

Admittedly I'm fairly adventurous with food when it comes to a "white" person (for instance I love chicken feet) but I can also be quite skittish (not fond of brain or some other entrails).
Henri found a couple of Bouchons, highly rated that had some choices suitable for the likes of me.  With that in mind we proceeded to manger. Our first restaurant was lunch at the Cafe des Confederations.

 









For starters, there is charcroute de lyonnaise which comprises some cornichons, sliced cold meats and a potato (mashed) type of salad.  We thought we only had a choice of one but actually, all starters are included.  So, in addition to the above we had a lovely green lentil salad (I don't really like lentils, but I liked these) and a red cabbage salad... all were delicious.

Typical Joanne pose....

For his main course Henry ordered the Andouillette sauce moutarde

Now for those of you who know Henri, this would be the ultimate but I could tell by the look on his face, after his first bite, he did not enjoy the sausage.  On reflection, he says, it was the smell that tainted his enjoyment. The meat was very strong tasting (likely only full of Offal) and even with the lovely mustard sauce, not easy to take.  

I, on the other hand, lucked out.  I chose the Civet du Porc which in fact was pork cheeks (I'm assuming a pig pork cheek).  It almost tasted just like Beef Bourginone due to the strong flavouring of red wine.... now what's wrong with that?  I finished it off in two potato strokes!

Henri, still recovering from his Andouillet Sausage, refreshed his taste buds with some Almond Cake.... now that was good I have to assume....

When we arrived, as usual, the place was empty but then (VOILA!) filled up completely... we seem to attract a crowd... PAPARAZZI!  ugh...

With hope in our hearts and a refreshed need for nourishment, we headed off to dinner (another day, another dinner)..... Henri had researched his 2nd choice also and it was called Le Bouchon Les Filles....  Having learned his lesson from lunch the previous day he changed is tack.....

We went to Le Bouchon de Filles and enjoyed our meals immensely.  Henri had Kidney and I had Quenelles (fish).... it was delicious and thoroughly enjoyable evening..

The place filled up. Ambience was wonderful and as with our lunch at the Bouchon started with three salads including lentil and cabbage.  We were also offered an "amusee bouche" of a beet tasting shot drink.. it was delicious.  All in all.... great experience! Highly recommended!  Open your heart and your mind.  Experience all that there is and savour the moment!.... more on Lyon to come, it's not always all about the food!  Hugs to all and hopefully you have (or are about to or are going to) enjoy a meal with your family.... Food is the greatest way to experience a moment in time and savour your memories... Henri and Joanne...

Madrid and Toledo.....

Guilty.  I've been dragging my feet and therefore we've been gone from both of these places for at least 10 days... We arrived in Madrid by train from Granada.  Our hotel was the Liabeny which was well located near Puerto del Sol... As with everywhere in Spain we are amazed at the number of people simply walking the streets (the "paseo").  The hotel is well established in Madrid and does not appear to be part of a chain.  Our room is on the 4th floor and does have a window... however our view is of an internal courtyard... really nothing to see. There are two beds which are very, very hard and the room has a lot of built in furniture made of fine quality wood .... I like the "old" feel of the room.  Bed linens are fine cotton and again not typical of today's new hotels..  However...staff are very very rude.  From seeing the other patrons, this is a "local" hotel for Spanish people visiting Madrid. They are not amenable to trying to interpret English.. so be it.... and rudely pointed Henry to the map cache when he asked for one.  Doesn't matter, we're not here to make friends but to visit Madrid and Toledo, so let the visit begin.  We wandered out of the hotel, past the Puerto del Sol and head over to the Mercado.




The selection of food is amazing and the place is teeming with people.  We found a table however no chairs so stood to eat our Tapas.   I must say that although they are good, they are very very expensive and in my humble opinion, not worth the price.  The crowd appears to be very touristy What I thought were skewers of olives and cheese were actually 1 olive and 1 piece of cheese and this cost 1 Euro (about $1.20 per olive).

We ate here a couple of times but felt we could do better....


Our plan in Madrid was to visit the the sites, take a train to Toledo and then continue our visit to Madrid.  However, due to expected rain, we left Toledo until the last day.  Imagine our surprise when we arrived at the Palace to find that it was closed for the day...WOW... here we are in Spain, our last day in Madrid because we had tickets to Toledo the next day, and unable to see one of the major sights.... alors!

We had an early morning train to Toledo and planned on a full day returning to Madrid at 7:00 pm... Toledo is like many European cities... an old centre core and newer developments and material commercial outlets on the outskirts.  The old centre is up a hill so we caught a local bus to the top.   Well HOLY TOLEDO!  The Cathedral is jaw dropping.  The interior is lofty, rich and vast.  The sacristy has a collection of paintings that would challenge any museum on the map... such an iconic church in such a small city.  Because of its importance in Iberia, Toledo was the first city to fall under the Reconquista Christian forces.   The fall of Toledo marked the beginning of the end of the Muslim domination of Iberia. Just a small sampling of what we saw....

The altar looks chaotic, but is actually structured thoughtfully outlining the story of Jesus, up past the archangels to the Last Supper high above..

The Cathedral is really all there is that is a "must see" in Toledo and as we were finished by noon we went back to the train station with a view to changing our tickets.  Turns out that was easy peasy so we were back in Madrid by 1:00 pm....   Yaaaaay.... we're off to the palace.  This is the outside and the building is very imposing... but NO PICS ALLOWED.....

Inside, just another palace. Lots of tapestry, fine silk upholstery, gold, silver and rich rich... you know what I mean.

Henry and I have been to weddings all over the world (France, Italy, Vietnam, Turkey to name a few).  Turns out we were at two in Madrid (gatecrashers yes..)  Here's the groomsmen at a higher end wedding...

and then we happened on a more traditional Spanish wedding with horses and all...unfortunately, I can't find my pictures.  Well Spain is done and we have since flown to Lyon to start our French adventure. More soon I promise and I apologize... there is so much that we've seen, done and eaten that isn't reflected here. We'll have to catch up in person soon.  Love to all, Joanne and Henry....