Jimi vintage

Well, here we have another vintage shop which is situated on 10 Rue Romarin. Here is a map.

It isn´t big, but it has a quite nice collection of boots, shoes and men´s shirts. There are also women´s clothing, and they seem to get new sendings regularly. 

The price it negotiable to a certain degree so you can probably find a bargain or two. 

So, if you enjoy vintage we recommend that you check it out.

Bananas for crepes?

Crepes do not only have to be enjoyed during summertime. Indeed, a warm, crispy crepes with luscious cheese and an assortment of toppings is excellent and ideal when the skies are grey and the weather is cold. And although it might be a little cold outside, there is no reason to deny yourself of scrumptious and mouthwatering crepes with chocolate sauce and fruits or cream... 

You will probably have no difficulty finding good crepes in Vieux Lyon. But if we had to recommend one place, then it would have to be Le Bananas. It has terrific crepes, especially the sweet ones. In case you feel that it is a bit cold for a good crepes with ice cream then you can always sit inside and enjoy it with a cup of hot chocolate.

During summer it is really nice to sit outside Le Bananas. It is situated in a little square, and there are usually lots of people and some street musicians. 

It isn´t hard to find, but if you can´t you have some directions here. 

Lyon street-art

For those who enjoy art in all it´s forms here is some stensil work found in the streets of Lyon.

Indeed, when walking through the city, take care to look around you because there are many beautiful work to be found in the not-so-obvious places.

Some work is quite beautiful while others display a lot of humor.
If you are interested in more samples of Lyon street art take a look at this blog.

The Boats

If you´ve lived in Lyon for some time, you will have found out by now about "the boats".
In case you don´t...
There are several boats located at the Rhone river near Guillotière (quai Augagneur) which are used as bars or nightclubs at weekends. We don´t know exactly how many there are but here is a little info on the ones we know:

1. La Marquise
The Marquise is rather small but always completely packed (maybe because it is highly recommended by the Petit Paumé). Playing soul, funk, electro and reggea, open from
11 p.m. -5 a.m.
Click here to go to the website of the "good vibes generator".

2. Q-Boat
The Q-Boat might be the biggest one you find in the row. It is more like a nightclub playing electro-music and the poeple that go there tend to be 25 and older. Some would call it a kind of a fancy, yuppie, place. And you should make sure not to wear sneakers, the doormen might tell you to stay outside...
Open from 11:30 p.m. - 5 a.m more info on the website.

3. La Plateforme
The Plateforme is only used for certain events so most of the time you will find it closed.
However you might happen to come across some good concerts

4. Le Sirius
In the daytime the Sirius is a café which turns in the nightime into a pub . It is open all day from 2 p.m. - 3 a.m. Its quite huge, with at least two dance floors and it often has free concerts.
It has a nice ambience, and is often pretty crowded. Check out the website.

One important tips for those who plan a "night out on the boats". It is a good idea not to get there later than 11 or 12 or you might have a hard time getting in.

You can find directions here.

L`Epicerie Moderne

If you enjoy concerts you will soon discover the Epicerie Moderne.
Unfortunately this venue is not directly in Lyon, but a good concert is worth taking trip to Feyzin.

It is not the most charming venue we´ve been to, but it has many really good concerts.


How to get there:
First of all you can find directions here.
But the trip can be a kind of a hassle. You take the metro line D until Gare de Venissieux, from there you have to change to the bus number 60 or 39. Get off at Bégude and just follow the crowd.
It is a good idea to check the bus schedule because the buses don´t go so often after nine o´clock. Of course everything will have stopped running by the time the concert is finished, so in worst case scenerio you will have to take a taxi back. It will cost around 30€ to reach the inner city of Lyon by taxi.

However the Epicerie Moderne offers a platform for sharing cars on its website (co-voiturage), maybe you are lucky and find someone to share a car with.

You can find info on upcoming concerts on their website and in Petit Bullettin. Most tickets can be bought at Fnac and Virgin Megastore.

For those who enjoy great indie-country music and will be here in january, the Calexico will be playing on the 22. of january!



Furthermore we have a little delicacy for you,
The Foals live in the Epicerie Moderne!!

Saint-Exupéry

Saint-Exupery

The Saint-Exupéry international airport, which is located near Lyon is named after the French writer and pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, a native of Lyon, most famous for his book, The Little Prince or Le Petit Prince. It is a really beautiful book and is in fact one of the best selling books in the world. Although a childrens book it is a favorite of many, being deep and sincere and revealing of human nature.
If you are a fan you can find Le Petit Prince souvenirs and you can also find the book in many languages in Decitre bookshop. It is also an ideal book for french-language students and to give as a gift.

Bookstores on Place Bellecour

For foreigners visiting or living in Lyon the Decitre bookstore on Place Bellecour will be an important discovery. There you can find all sorts of dictionaries and books for learning french and other languages. It also has a good variety of english titles which otherwize aren´t that easy to find in Lyon. So for those not quite capable of reading in french this will be a relief.

You can find it here.

On the other side of Place Bellecour you have an even more interesting bookstore, the Taschen bookstore. For those who don´t know, Taschen is a German book publishing company which publishes beautiful books on art, architecture and photography. Taschen books are good quality, low priced and in my opinion on the top ten list of the most enjoyable things in the world. The books in this store are mostly in french, but if you see something you like, and would like it in another language, you could order it through their website or on amazon.
You can find directions here.

Brasserie Barrel-Brunch

If you walk around Lyon for long enough you will without a doubt run into some nice cafés and cozy restaurants and brasseries. In fact the city seems to be swarming with little hidden places waiting to be discovered and enjoyed. One of which is Gustave on Rue Sala on Presqu´ile. It is a little brasserie place with good food and a pleasant atmosphere. A terrific brunch-type place, serves salads, tartines and light brasserie-kind of food and good coffee and deserts. It can be recognized by the barrel in front of it, hence we call it the Barrel-Brunch, Brasserie-Barrel or light Brasserie-Barrel-Brunch..
It´s worth discovering. You can find it here.

Hotel de Ville - behind the scenes.

Of course you will see the Hotel de Ville during your stay in Lyon, or at least you should see it.
During our stay we had the chance to go inside the Hotel de Ville, which is normally closed for visitors.
So we took it upon ourselves to spend hours waiting in a line of tourists and curious french just to get a glimpse of the pompous inside of Hotel de Ville.
Of course we don`t want to deprive you of the pictures we took:

Flea-market in Croix Rousse

This is the next tip for alternative shoppers but also for those who like walking around the city on a sunday morning. The flea-market is every sunday from morning til noon.
Sellers are all kinds of people trying to get rid off their old stuff.
So you can find almost everything here: clothes, games, dishes, lamps, books - just all stuff people accumulate over years. Especially people who like vintage will love this flea-market, and the already fair prices are negotiable. This might be also helpful if you still need some household articles you don`t want to carry back home.
Also you discover the beautiful quarter "croix rousse" with its steep lanes and get a chance to practice your french by asking for prices etc.

For alternative shoppers...

It´s unlikely that people will need any help finding shops in Lyon. Presqu´ile, especially Rue de la République and Rue Victor Hugo are full of stores selling literally everything, and then there is of course the always overcrowded Part Dieu shopping center.
If, however, you are looking for something more original, you can find both independent boutiques and vintage shops.
First of all it is worthwhile taking a walk from Place des Terreaux up to the Croix- Rousse district, it´s quite likely you´ll find some nice places there.
We are going to cover the places we have come accross and like the best, and today will start with a little place called Comptoir Americain. It is a very small shop on Rue de Constantine with rather mysterious opening hours. Chances are you will have to pass it a few times before you catch it open. Here is a map.
It doesn´t look all that organized and may not seem appealing at first glance, but to people who love vintage...there may be a hidden treasure. Of course, like so many times in vintage stores, the majority of what you find there will be a bit tacky and second rate. Experienced vintage shoppers of course know this and have cultivated the patience and optimism you need to find a needle in a haystack.

Football

Football enthusiasts have probably figured it out that you will have no problem finding a place that shows the French league 1 games. However not everyone is willing to give up watching their favorite English premier league teams and may be frustrated that those games aren´t as readily shown as the french ones. If you live in Vieux Lyon there are at least two places that show the English premier league and those are the Smoking Dog Pub at 16 Rue Lainerieand Wallace Bar at 2 Rue Octavio Mey. You can see a map here.

However, if Lyon is playing at the same time Smoking Dog will probably be showing that. In fact, we would rather recommend Wallace Bar. They always show the English premier league, and often show many games at once so it is likely that you will catch your favorite club. Also they sell mean hamburgers! You can find it here.

Tasse Livre

In my search of a home away from home here in Lyon I have tried many coffee places looking for a kozy feel, laid back atmosphere, free wifi and good coffee. And I found it all in one place, near Place Sathonay on Rue Louis Vitet.




Its called Le Tasse Livre and it is a bookstore as well as a coffeehouse. It sells particularly books of local authors and graphic novels, most of it in french.






The people who run the place work there themselves and are real nice. They They sometimes have art exhibitions of local artists, and some pieces there are for sale.
The coffee there is good and they also have smoothies, salads and soups, most of which is bio. Its a great place to go out for coffee with friends or to study when you get tired of your desk at home.

Like most places nowadays it has a website you can check out.
If you go there you might as well check out the store next door to Tasse Livre. It´s a store that sells clothing, accessories and stuff from Hong Kong. Not cheap in price but really cool, especially if you are into hip designs and bling bling.
Take a look at this video about the store. Real cool

You can find directions here

Bagels!!

If you are hungry for bagels there are (to our knowledge) two bagel places to chose from on Presqu´ile, Best Bagels on Place Tobie Robatel and City Bagels on Rue Ferrandière.

Now people may not agree which one has better bagels... but I doubt it. Truth be told, I have never had better bagels than at Best Bagels on Place Tobie Robatel. And in comparison the ones at City Bagels were merely mediocre, something I could have made myself at home provided I had a toaster.
But Best Bagels isn´t just a good bagel place but can also serve as a refuge for homesick americans. There you can find all kinds of all-american products you might have difficulties finding elsewhere like peanut butter, marshmellow fluff, american cereal, rootbeer, tootsie rolls, jelly beans, Betty Crocker products, macaroni and cheese and much more.

Although we are of the opinion that Best Bagels is better than City Bagels, we encourage people to try both of bagel places and decide for themselves which one they like the best. We would be grateful if you commented your opinion, and also if anyone knows of a third bagel place.

You can find Best Bagels on a map here and City Bagels here.

Basilique de Fourvière

This is the next must-see in Lyon.
The church is enthroned on the hill Fourvière which it is also named after.
In our opinion the most awesome thing there is not the church itself, it`s the view you have from hill Fourvière.
The viewing platform offers a look over the whole city and when the sky is clear you can even see the Alps.
The best way to do it is to climb up the hill, no worries there are footpaths sourounded by a nice park.
For the lazy ones there is also the Funiculaire driving up the hill.



When you once reached the hill you will also see a huge gold-statue of the Virgin Mary.
The statue has an important historic background. In 1634 the plague raged around Lyon and the inhabitants of Lyon prayed to the Virgin Mary to be spared out from the plague. Seems like the praying worked, the plague never came to Lyon. The grateful citizens of lyon then built the Basilica Notre-Dame Fourvière and 200 years later on the 8th december topped it with the golden Mary.
This is also the beginning of the Fête des Lumières held each year on the 8th december, when the whole city is bathed in light. An event that attracts tourist from all over the world.

Parc de la Tete d´or

With 16 hectares this is the biggest park in France which you shouldn´t miss!
It offers a rose garden, a botanic garden, a zoo and a lake completely for free.
opening hours are:

• 6.30 a.m. to 8.30 p.m. in winter (starts on the 15th of october)
• 6.30 a.m. to 10.30 p.m. in summer (starts on the 15th of april)

Find it on a map here.

Café 203

Are you one of those still mourning the loss of being able to smoke inside bars and restaurants? What if we told you that you can enjoy a cigarette inside a café while drinking your beer or having your lunchtime meal, without having to fear stiff fines?

Café 203 doesn´t just allow people to smoke inside their café, in fact they sort of celebrate smoking.
Just off of Rue de la Republique, on Rue Garet to be exact, you can find the only place (to our knowledge) where you can still smoke inside. Yes, and to top it off, free wifi!!
You can find it here.

We suspect it might get a bit cold autumn and winter since its pretty well ventilated.

Theatre Romain

The roman theater was built in 15 bc and then expanded in the 2nd century.
Next to the theater you can find the odeon, which was especially used for music events.
Both are open to visit the whole day (means not when it is dark) and in june and july there are festivities there and some really big concerts. This is a great place and you definatetly have to see it when you are in Lyon.
You can reach it when you go off metro station "Vieux Lyon" by foot or with the Funiculaire.

Our proposals:

- take some food with you and have a picnic while you are enjoying the view.
- if you are romantically minded, take a bottle of wine with you and watch the sunset.
- for those who are interested in history: There is a museum for gallo-roman history in Lyon next to the theater. It is free on Thursdays and on other days only 2€ and something!

Holidays

In France there are a number of public holidays where you will find that banks, offices, and sometimes more or less everything closed. Not everyone knows this so we decided to post a list of important dates and holidays, before which you might want to stock up on food and necessities to avoid famine or supply shortage of any kind.

Well, on Sundays most supermarkets and stores are closed, which is something not everyone is used to. If you look though you might find some small shops open that sell necessities, so you don´t have to worry. Also there are usually markets at on the banks of Saone and other places.

Holidays

• New years day,
• Easter
• Labour Day (1st of May),
• Victory Day- end of WWII (8th of May),
• Ascension day (40 days after easter)
• Whit sunday and monday (seventh sunday after easter)
• Bastille Day (14th of july)
• Assumption (15th of August)
• All Saint´s Day (Ist of November)
• Armistice Day (11th of november)
• Christmas Day (25th of December)

GRRRND ZERO!

Do you like live music, indie, folk, rock and experimental?
Well, even if you´re not such a big fan, chances are you would want to see a concert at Ground Zero (spelled Grrrnd Zero) in Lyon just for the experience and cheap alcohol.

Ground Zero is in fact two places, one called Ground Gerland and is a bit smaller and the other one is Ground Zero Vaise and is used for bigger concerts.
Ground Gerland looks kind of like an empty warehouse which is now used for art exhibitions and concerts.
The Ground Zero Vaise is bigger but not directly in the center, so you have to catch the last metro if you don`t want to face a long walk home.
A very nice vibe, laid back atmosphere and, incidentally, has awesome bands come visit from all over the world.

Ground Gerland is on rue pré Gaudry, in the 7th district, (take the metro to Place Jean Jaurés) and Ground Zero Vaise is on rue gorge de Loup, reachable with the metro D (stop Gorge de loup).

On their website you can find information about their next concert and also a blog on artstuff.

We give it four out of five stars, a definite "must-go"

Vélo´v

I think most will agree that Vélo´v, Lyon´s bicycle rental service, are a raving success. All around town you can see people of all sizes and ages riding identical red-and silver bikes.
And it´s a bargain. You can take a bike from one station and if you return it to another Vélo´v station within a half hour it is completely free. After the first half hour the rates are pretty low, like 0,5 - 1€ an hour or so, but in fact they say that around 90% of the trips made by the bikes are under a half an hour, which means the they are practically free for the riders!
In order to get a bike you must buy either a short term card (1€) or a long term card (5€) and the bikes have to be returned within a maximum of 24 hours or you have to pay a 150€ fine. But you shouldn´t have to have problems finding stations since there are 340 of them all around town.

Equally handy for the tourists and non-french speakers, both the website and the Vélo´v stations have instructions in English. However you may find that the machines are a bit choosy on which cards they accept. We know that you must have public liability insurance in order to use Vélo´v, so our theory at this point is that if you are from a country within the EU you might be able to use your credit card, otherwise you must use french one... but we may be wrong about this and if there is anyone who knows this for sure we would be grateful if you would comment on this.

Of course, as happens with public bikes everywhere, it is highly likely that you will at one point or another get a bike that is in pretty bad shape. Some are quite impossible to ride and this can be very frustrating. Also, some people say they find it confusing riding a bike in the traffic in Lyon. This will probably depend on where you come from and what you are used to. People from Scandinavia, accustomed to extensive bike paths and abiding strict traffic regulations, may find bicycling in Lyon a bit random while people used to riding bikes in China may find find it quite orderly. I think most would agree that it isn´t that difficult and that it doesn´t take long to feel comfortable in the traffic.

Vélo´v is definitely an economical, healthy and environmentally friendly form of transportation, ideal in a semi-small city as Lyon. We highly recommend it and take our hats of to the city managers for providing such a great service. I would like to see bike rental services like Vélo´v in every major city, It´s high time we did something about polution and global warming.

You can find more information on Vélo´v on their website.

Le Petit Paumé

No, the Petit Paumé is not the same thing than the Petit Bulletin. But when you are new in Lyon having the Petit Paumé makes life much easier. It offers just about all the addresses you can imagine.
Restaurants, hair dresser, museums, hotels, and so on.
Every year there is a new edition of the Petit Paumé and you can get it for free at Place Bellecour.
This year they gave it away in the beginning of October for the year 2009.
It is written by young people and provides you with special tips, news on new locations, where you can smoke, important phone numbers and restaurants are even sorted after price classes.

Nothing else to say, great thing to have if you are at the right time in Place Bellecour...
if not, there is still the website:
http://www.petitpaume.com/
but unfortunatly not in english.

Le Petit Bulletin

Well, the first thing you will need in Lyon is Le Petit Bulletin.
This is a free weekly paper which lists the cultural events happening during the week. Loaded with information on art exhibitions, concerts, movies and much more, and although in French, readable to the common "linguistically challenged" foreign student.

So be on the lookout on street corners and in cafés on Wednesdays, and you can probably find something to do. Also you can find information on the website: http://www.petit-bulletin.fr/

Jean Moulin

When you are an exchange student in the Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3 people tell you first how the university came to its name.

Jean Moulin was the head of the french resistance movement during WWII. The Nazis eventually caught him and tortured in order to receive more information on the resistance movement.
But Moulin rested unwavering and he refused to give any information. When the Nazis recognized that he would stay silent even after the worst torture, they decided to bring him to one of their concentration camps. Moulin died on his way there in 1943 of heart failure.

This is a tragic story and it is fitting that buildings and places are named in the memory of his great achievements.

Then you get bit by bit more information on the history of the university you`re in.
First there were no Lyon 2 (Université Lumière) and Lyon 3 (Université Jean Moulin). It was only one university. But during the student revolt in 1968 the professorate separated in a left wing and a right wing camp, what became Lyon 2 and Lyon 3.

So, ok. The university Lyon 3 was founded by right wings. But if you think that is just history doesn´t reflect the school today you are wrong. In fact there were 4 professors who made anti-Semitic statements while teaching at the school. This starts with the denial of Auschwitz or the membership in the right extremist party Front National. Just in 2004 a professor of the Lyon 3 doubted in public if the numbers of mortalities during WWII were right.

Today in 2008 they have all been suspended of course all, and are not longer teachers in the Lyon 3.
But when you hear these stories it seems like irony that the university has the name of this great resistance fighter and you ask yourself "what would Jean Moulin say, if he knew"?

About us

This site is for those who are living in Lyon, permanently or temporarily and those visiting the city.
We are two students who have been enjoying life in Lyon for a few months and want to share our discoveries and provide you with tips concerning living in the city. If you know of any nice places we´re missing out on, some insider´s tips or even interesting random facts about our beloved city, please leave comments or write to lyonxy@gmail.com