Day 22- Markets and Roses

Today I got up early and went with Harley, Brandon, Chandler and her mom to the food market in Vieux-Lyon. The market had everything you could need to make a dinner: meats, fresh fish, fresh veggies and fruits, rotisserie chickens, wine, fruits and nuts, juice, breads, cheeses, eggs, ect. It was a fun experience! I got myself a 'to-go' meal of chicken cooked in a gravy with mushrooms and some fried potato wedges. I also bought 2 containers of fresh strawberries for only €3! I also wanted to try some cherries so I found a vendor who was selling them in a plastic 5oz cup for €1. They were so soft and tasty and I ate them all within a 10 minutes.

We then walked through Vieux- Lyon to do some window shopping and I decided 11:45 is an acceptable time for a pre-lunch gelato, so I picked up a scoop marscapone and a scoop of lavender ice cream from my favorite shop. Both flavors were great! The lavender did almost taste like eating a perfume, but not as much as the baby wipe violet flavor! I then headed back towards the shop that Chandler and her mom recommended to buy some madeleines aux pralines. I then headed back to my room to have a nap and then eat my lunch.

Since this weekend was the Rose Festival, I knew I had to take a trip to the Parc Tete d'Or to see the festival. As I got in the elevator, I again ran into one of the British girls from the previous day who said that her and another girl and Harrison were heading to the park as well! When we finally got inside the park, the main area for the festivities was at the back, so we had to walk a good ways to get there. About half way to the festival area there was a section of all different kinds of roses! There were roses of all colors: pink, white, purple, yellow, orange, red, and sometimes a mix of two. After a while I gave up on taking photos of them all because there were so many and it was hard to tell the difference between them all. Once we got to the main festivities, they were artists selling rose themed art work, people advertising the variety of rose bushes they could sell you, people dressed up in costumes with masks that looked like dolls (very creepy), and roses everywhere! Both me and Natalie wanted to buy at least one rose, but we couldn't find anyone selling roses out side of the potted plant.  Eventually I spotted the Only Lyon sign which everyone else had found a few weeks ago when they came to the park. Natalie had brought with her a blanket so we all sat out on the grass and relaxed by the lake. It was nice to be in the shade finally, it was super hot out, especially in jeans and a navy blue shirt.

Not roses, but poppies are still pretty! And look! A bee!

After we had our fill of the outdoors, we headed back towards the apartments. Some how the topic of chicken nuggets came up and so did McDonald's so we all decided to go to McDonald's for dinner. I ordered a cheeseburger on a poppyseed bagel which turned out alright. Day 22 was actually a really social day for me which I had not expected, but it was nice being social for once!