France: Day 5 - Notre Dame de Fourviere Cathedral and Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse Food Hall

Wednesday, May 27, 2026

Checkout was at 10am, so we got up, showered, and packed. Everyone except me went to the bakery around the corner and picked out some eclairs, a chocolate Madeline, chocolate breads, and a raspberry tart, and Gabe got a ham sandwich. On our way out, we bought some honey at the shop below the Airbnb house.

Then we drove back to Lyon to visit the Notre Dame de Fourviere. The cathedral was beautiful and intricate inside. There was a mass going on so we sat down for a bit to listen to it. Then we stopped at the gift shop, where Elisa and I picked out a few charms and Erik found a cool magnet that was a book of pictures of the cathedral.

Experiencing the unique and beautiful cathedrals is one of my favorite things about going to Europe!

Some pictures outside the cathedral. There always seems to be work being done on these buildings. I guess it's necessary so they don't go to ruin; that would be a shame! 

We figured we had better eat something, so we drove to a food hall (Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse). There were plenty of options, but none of us could choose. Erik just chose some place, Le Comptoir Gueuleton. Elisa and Gabe weren’t that hungry, so we ordered them a charcuterie board to share. Erik ordered some escargot, and we shared a plate of pistachio sausage with potatoes. Erik ordered Ian a quenelle, a creamed fish with breadcrumbs and eggs. I liked the charcuterie board and the sausage plate, but I didn’t care for Ian’s quenelle dish much. The escargot was just ok; I’m not a fan of the texture much. Erik liked it ok. For dessert we had chocolate soufflé and Gabe got a caramel crème. After eating, we walked around, went to the restroom, and bought some cute fruity candies that didn’t taste nearly as good as they looked; I’m pretty sure they were just made from marzipan.

Gotta try some escargot while in France!

My sausage was super yummy.

Ian liked his meal. I wonder if he would have liked it as much if he had known what it was...

Gabe shared his caramel creme with us. It looked and tasted a lot like flan

There were lots of fun things to look at in this market.

The marzipan fruities were cute but didn't taste like much.

After leaving the marketplace, we drove straight to our next Airbnb house in the country just northwest of Dijon. It was another big old house, but luckily there were sheets on the beds and towels. It did have some flies though but not nearly as much as the other house. We (as in all the adults) went to the Intermarche grocery store in the nearest town. We got more tarts, yogurt, panne cotta, bread, and even some cute little soft cheeses. For dinner we just sampled what we bought at the grocery store.

Erik and I walked around the fountain and church in the small village of our Airbnb.