After Paris I spent a couple days working in Lyon. The first night I got in late and just grabbed snacks for a belated dinner. For lunch the next day I stopped in a large traîteur on my noon walk, and picked up some little pastry rounds filled with terrine. What a brilliant picnic food! I ate them on a bench, feeling smug about the sandwich alternative. My other favorite snack food was a type of cream puff, without the cream, which I bought at a local chain called Les Trois Brioches. They sell donut-hole-sized beignets and the empty-puff things, which have crunchy sugar on top. I could eat an indecent number of those. The second night I went with my client to the famed Brasserie Georges, which is an enormous restaurant (it seats 450) and has been in operation since 1836. I can’t imagine that it’s the same space, though–it’s a cavernous art deco palace!

Starters were good–the salade lyonnaise is a classic, and my mom’s favorite: frisée with lardons and a poached egg (incidentally, they had used the plastic wrap method of poaching the egg):

I had the house terrine, which was very tasty, especially with the onion confit that accompanied it:

As main courses my dinner companion had the famous onion soup, which was great, and I had a lukewarm and mediocre sausage.

The next night I wandered around a lot, trying to do some Christmas shopping in the hour before shops closed for the evening. I spotted some interesting things (none of which I bought)…

Opinels, for mushroom hunters and a “My First Opinel”:

Reproduction 19th century tradesman’s clothes, at a uniform shop:

Children’s pirate gear at Bonpoint:

Preparations for the Light Festival (there was something to do with Mars involved?), including the enclosure in a giant plastic dome of a big statue in the central square: