We think Lyon, France has the best hot chocolate.

Hot chocolate in France. frugal-cafe.com

There's nothing like a good chocolat chaud (hot chocolate) and a croissant in the morning. J’aim mon chocolat.  Somehow the drink in Lyon has just the right combination of chocolate vs. sugar and milk… oh, and served with a cube of sugar if you have a personal need to adjust it.

One day this week we found ourselves at The Sofitel for a later than usual breakfast. They served us pots of hot chocolate (2 cups in each), sugar, macarones and the croissants we ordered with it. Oh, sure it was a splurge at about $30 for the 2 of us but we really needed to rank the Sofitel with the others we've visited: so far the Sofitel Madrid, Spain comes in first, then Lyon, then Montreal, then Minneapolis and all the other Sofitels we have ever just popped into for hot chocolate. It's a passion of ours.

Fourviere, Lyon, France

We visited the Tourist Office at Place Bellecour to pick up some literature on options of things to do. We bought one day transit passes and took the underground and funicular up to Fourviere which is an area that sits up on top of the hill and is the original site of the Roman city, Lugdunum. It was thought that the Romans were the first to build there, however Celtic artifacts have now been found which prove the Romans eventually merged with the locals and assumed some of their culture, especially gods. There is a really good Gallo-Romaine Museum, which exhibits and describes the discoveries since 1933.

The next day, we bopped around Lyon, by transit and foot, to check out all the neighborhoods we could get to. We had a nice dinner in vieux Lyon, the oldest central part. Compared to years ago, this city is really working hard to get visitors to come and spend their money. There are really fabulous clothing and furniture stores as well as unbelievable quantities of wonderful restaurants all competing to be the best at what they do be it the local Boucheron Lyonnaise food, classic French, innovative foods and regional such as the crepes. And don't forget seafood. The views in the city are wonderful: the old roman area sits high on a bluff over the city with a basillica that is lit up at night (Fourviere). There is also a mini-Eiffel tower mostly used as a radio and satellite tower which is decorative by day and lit at night with orange-ish colored lights.

An example of the fun lions to be found all around Lyon.

All around town the Lyon lion is to be found at restaurants, at businesses and public areas in general. These seem to be each the same statue in a realistic size that has been decorated each individually for display. I suspect it is similar to what Minneapolis and St. Paul did with little statues of the Charlie Brown characters. Chicago once had cows all over the city, surprising visitors.

The stylish entrance to the best park in France.

Today we traveled to the Tete d'Or Park. This is one of the nicest public parks I've ever been in, including Kew Gardens. It includes a small zoo, botanical gardens, play areas for children, bicycle paddle boats for use on the small central lake, cafes, and a lot of acreage of beautifully groomed lawns as well as rose gardens and natural areas. When I was in the Park years ago, the park police would chase people off of the lawn. But now it is fully accessible to everyone. There were a lot of athletic types running and walking the trails, bicycling, and generally making the most of the park.