2026 April and some of May in Lyon

    We were warmly greeted upon our arrival at the Warwick Reine Astrid (24 Boulevard des Belges, 69006 Lyon, +(33) 04 72 82 18 00). We had the same two-bedroom, two-bath Privilege Suite Stendhal as we did in 2025. It cost, with breakfast, 350€ per day, and parking was an extra 6.55€ per day for a total of US$411.51. Adeline, the director of housekeeping, herself, set up the room with all of our preferences. It was great to be "home".

    For our first dinner in Lyon, we drove over to New China and had the great starter of foie gras, followed by the complete duck menu for two. We enjoyed it, and we got a parking space close by because Dimitri was using crutches all of the time!

    On the first day that we could before Dimitri's surgery, we went to Accueil des Villes Françaises Lyon-Rhône. AVF turned out to be a perfect organization for us in Lyon. We joined for 35€, and we had a large group of new friends.

    We were invited to a monthly get-together the same night that we joined. We had a great evening chatting in French and English with the international crowd at the "International" AVF in Vieux Lyon. There we met Roger  (who went to the same Lycée Français in Port Said, Egypt, that Dimitri went to)! Before Dimitri's surgery, Roger and his wife, Dominique, invited us to their home for lunch with John from Sacramento.

We had a delicious lunch at Roger's and Dominique's apartment in Lyon with John

    Each arrondissement in Lyon had its own activities and, soon after we joined, Marie-France and her husband, Jacques, who live in "our 6e arrondissement de Lyon", invited us to their apartment overlooking le parc de la Tête d'or for apero. We had a wonderful evening with them. The offerings that Marie-France prepared were not only beautiful, they were also delicious.

    We loved having a social life in Lyon and, with AVF, we did. One of the activities that was offered was a tour of the Hotel de Ville Lyon. We wanted to visit it, and voilà, AVF offered us our chance!

The Hôtel de Ville de Lyon is as magnificent inside as it is outside

    There was an extravagant reception after the tour with other organizations for visitors to Lyon. One of the organizations, Lyon International, has volunteers who invite visitors to their homes for dinner (their motto is "an extra plate at our table"). And, Dimitri and Audre are invited to the home of Jacques.

    About 3 weeks after Dimitri's hip replacement, we invited John from Sacramento to lunch at our hotel. We had lunch on the terrace, and then he accompanied us for Dimitri's debut bike ride. We were thrilled!  

A map of the spots we visited

Click here for the photo album. 

You might need to open a Google account to see our photos. Click on the "i" in the top ribbon and look at the  Description.