Halles de Paul Bocuse

Did you know that Lyon is the gastronomy capital of the world?  My class about Lyon met at Les Halles de Paul Bocuse this afternoon.  A halle is a covered market, so we were in a building that is a little reminiscent of Reading Terminal Market or Pike Place Market but classier.  Paul Bocuse is a famous French chef whom the market is named after.  There were fromageries (cheese shops), boulangeries (bakery stands), charcuteries (cooked meats shops), and little restaurants everywhere.  The entire place smelled wonderful and made my mouth water at every turn.  We had the opportunity to do some wine, cheese, and meats tasting which was very nice.  Definitely worth wandering around if you are ever in Lyon.

After class was finished a group of five of us walked to Le Musée des Beaux-Arts, an art museum that hold pieces from the Renaissance to the 20th century.  We each bought passes for 7€ that will allow entrance to six museums in the area for a year.  Pretty sweet deal!  We only made it through part of one floor of the museum before they closed, so we will definitely have to go back!

To top off the evening, one of the other students who went to the museum wanted to stop for a drink on the way back to to his host family’s apartment.  I wasn’t in a rush to get back, so we wandered around until we found the place that he wanted to go to.  He also had a very specific drink in mind that he wanted called a French Monaco.  I told the waitress that I would have the same thing.  It is a light beer with grenadine mixed in and Google tells me that often times pomegranate lemonade is added in too.  I googled it when I arrived back at the apartment and it appears that it is what kids order when they are at the bar (I use the term kids loosely, I’m thinking young teenagers).