Lyon

Day 1: My excitement reached an all time high when I finally got in the taxi that was going to take me to the airport in Jeddah. There had been no last minute cancellation or change of plans! I was actually going to be able to leave the kingdom and do some recruiting!

So finally I reached the airport and well let me just say that it is quite surprising that an airport that gets so many international visitor (because of its proximity to Mecca) is so, well, blah. First off, you arrive at the ticket counters and there are blobs of people, no lines or cues, no order, really just a cluster of people (mostly men, because the women are all sitting off to one side somewhere) who are talking very loudly (in Arabic of course). So I finally manage to weasel my way through the crowds and arrive at the table. Apparently, Air France has a “one bag per flight” rule and I had two bags. Fortunately for me, I was probably the first single female traveler the airline attendant had dealt with in a while, so he took pity on me and let me check both my suitcase and the case for my stand.

Great, make through immigration and special “ladies only” search line and arrive at the waiting area. This place is well, reminiscent of a bad bus station. There are not enough seats for everyone, and to make matters worse, as a woman you are not really supposed to sit next to a man you don’t know. So, what did I do? I leaned up again a wall somewhere and waited for someone to get up. When someone finally did, I sat down. Five minutes after sitting down, one the professors from KAUST found and invited me to the first class lounge.

“The place is useless” he says, but takes one look around at our waiting area and adds “but it’s better than this.” So off we go to the first class lounge. He wasn’t kidding. The place is basically what most waiting areas in normal airports would look like, plus a little room for smokers and a terrible little food display. We sat there, ate our less than appetizing chocolate cake and waited for them to call the plane. Finally the call our plane to board, we do and we are off!

The flights themselves were uneventful and I arrived in Lyon at 8:30am, right on time. One of the organizers for the conference I was attending met me there and gave me a ride to the hotel. She explained that the hotel was not downtown (which according to her was quite a ways away) but that it was next to a lovely park and that I could always take the tram or the bus to reach ”Old Lyon.” I have to admit that the drive itself was beautiful. I had forgotten how much I love seeing green and trees, and realized how much I had missed nature! Fortunately for me, this is end of spring in Lyon, so everything is in full bloom and the days are brisk and sunny. Perfect weather for someone from the dessert.

I checked into my hotel, took a quick shower and went to the lobby to ask how to get downtown. The concierge explained that I needed to catch the bus until the last stop. I hopped on the bus and hoped that I had gotten on the right bus and that we were headed in the right direction (the concierge proved harder to understand than I expected). Well we turned the corner and there was the Rhone River. Wow, the buildings that line the river are stunning! The bus ride took all of 15 min, and I had arrived in Old Lyon at the main square.

I took my camera out and didn’t put it away until I got back on the bus on my way to the hotel. What a gorgeous city! I thought I wanted to go shopping, because it’s not really something you can do in KSA, but one look at the architecture and design of this World Heritage Site, and all I wanted to do was walk around and take pictures. So I did.

I got lost in the old city, walking down cobble stone streets and up and down little alleys with ivy-covered walls. I had lunch at a sidewalk café and ordered wine (hurray!) and a cheese plate, and was blissfully happy to just sit there and people watch. I have to say that people in Lyon have a very peculiar sense of style, it’s somewhere between the 80’s (I saw both Hammer pants and a flock of seagulls haircut) and haute couture. Lots of fun to watch. Lots of roman sandals.

After lunch I walked across the city to the Saone River and looked up at the Basilica Notre-Dame-du-Fourviere. Which looked beautiful off in the distance and thought to myself, “there has to be a way to get up there.” And there was.
What felt like a million stairs later… I was there. I walked into the Basilica and I have to admit that my eyes watered. I was overwhelmed. First off the place is gorgeous, but secondly, I hadn’t stepped into a church since I moved to Saudi. I had forgotten the awe that being in a place like instills in me. I felt peace and comfort in a way that I had missed but yet forgotten. It was a great experience to just sit there and be quiet for a while, surrounded by history and faith.

After my spiritual re-connection, I walked down the gardens of the basilica and made my way to the John Paul Cathedral, also a stunning church, although not quite as ornate or mesmerizing as the Basilica. I then continued to walk around Lyon, taking pictures like a crazy woman (I have about 300 pictures to prove it). I ended my personal tour by walking back to Rhone, jumping on the bus back and arriving at the park behind my hotel. It was lovely. The park has a lake in the middle of it and is covered in flowers. It was just so nice to be able to walk around on grass and see people wearing normal clothes (not an abaya in sight!) laying on the grass reading a book. I realized that much of what I miss is summed up in the little things that you don’t really think about when they’re available to you.

After my walk, I went back to my hotel room took a nap and got ready for dinner. I was fortunate to attend dinner at Paul Bocuse, which is apparently a very well known restaurant run by a very famous chef. At dinner I met the 2001 Chemistry Nobel Laureate, who was the keynote speaker at the conference I was attending. The dinner itself was exquisitely rich and decadent and consisted of 6 courses! During the meal we actually got to meet the chef’s wife and the chef himself.