In my last post I mentioned there might be a time issue with our transport from the airport to our lodgings. Our flight out of Gatwick was late leaving and we didn’t arrive in Lyon until 11 PM. We just managed to catch the 11:30 train from the airport to the Metro station, but we couldn’t get any further as all the public transport shuts down at midnight. We caught a cab from the Metro to Vieux Lyon; we didn’t have fluent enough French for the cab driver and he didn’t have enough English for us but we had documents printed with the addresses so he knew where we were headed. The streets in the old city are closed to traffic so we were dropped off where the driver said we needed to be. Unfortunately the directions we got from the cabbie (through arm signals) didn’t quite match the directions we had from our host.

We wandered a bit looking for the landmarks we had been given but when we couldn’t find them we decided to ask for help. We started to walk to the main street but on the way we came across a police van and they helped us. We were very close to where we needed to be so we were set.

Once we found the building we looked for a lift but there was none to be found. We were on the third floor so we headed up a narrow and winding staircase. We weren’t able to find the hose that our host said the key would be hidden in so we dug out the phone and our papers to call her (she was away for the weekend). Before we got far the lights all turned out and the switch on the third floor didn’t work.

We got as far as we could using the iPad and the phone as a flashlight but the cell didn’t work and we didn’t have any internet connection. Then I remembered that Pat had a couple of small flashlights packed. We dug one out and headed back down the stairs to find a wireless connection.

We ended up at a tiny pub and once we confirmed they had wi-fi we ordered a couple of beer and again tried to contact our host. While we waited we search for other hotels and found a few not far away. We re-read our information and decided the “hose” was probably the water pipe running by her door. So we headed back to the apartment for a second look.

Pat stayed downstairs by the light switch while I headed up the stairs with the flashlight. Sure enough with the flashlight I could see the keys shining behind the water pipe. We struggled to get the door open but when we did we have a lovely space. Our internal clocks were still way off and it was three before we went to bed.

Knowing we wanted to take full advantage of our only day in Lyon we set the alarm for 7 AM.

Location:Lyon, France