Europe Day 10 & 11 Lyon to Paris

In Geneva, we boarded a train to Lyon. It was crowded, but we were able to store our luggage and find seats in the same car. Around 2 hours later we arrived at the Lyon station and caught a cab. After some confusion with the cab driver about whether our credit card would work, we arrived at the hotel ten minutes later and our card worked fine. Our hotel was right on the Rhône river north of downtown, near a large park, and like Frankfort, a convention center and concert venue.

After dropping our bags we took an Uber to the Hard Rock for dinner. (No 37), then walked around a bit looking at the shops and buildings. The Hard Rock was also near the Rhône, but on the other bank and a couple miles downstream. 

After a bit it started to sprinkle and it was getting late so we headed back to our hotel. With the trouble we had with the taxi and the ease of using Uber, we vowed to use Uber whenever possible for the rest of our journey. If we ever make it back to Lyon, hopefully we’ll have more time so we can explore the old town more.

Yesterday morning we headed to the train station and boarded a high speed train to Paris. Two and a quarter hours later we arrived at the Gare de Lyon station in Paris. We then took an Uber van to our hotel.

In Paris we stayed at the Novotel East, near the Gallieni Metro station. Jenn was attending a convention there. It was an okay hotel - the rooms were small and dated, so there weren’t enough plugs to charge all our stuff. The neighborhood wasn’t great either, but we expected that. When we went to check in, somehow they had lost our reservation, even though we had prepaid months ago. It took about an hour to work things out. Once Susan and I got to our room, however, we began to discover things wrong. The AC didn’t cool the room down, the toilet leaked, and the next morning we discovered the shower didn’t work. After breakfast we went to the front desk, and they moved us into a room where everything appeared to be working. Although later we found the AC still didn’t cool the room down much.