Tuesday Sept 3, 2024 Lesin to Lyon

We had to be at the train station by 10 am so we had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel, packed and had to decide which train station to go to. The town is pretty small (population 3800) and there are 3 stops or stations in town. “Station” is kind of an exaggeration as is “train” since the cog railroad only has a couple of cars that crawl up and down the mountain, and “station” is a four foot wide by 15 ft area with kind of flat spots to stand with your luggage. We chose the Vermont “station” and there were two other people standing for the “train”. It was right on time (this is Switzerland). It leaves the upper “station” at 9:58, gets to the Vermont “station” at 10:00 and the Leysin Village station was probably a couple minutes after that. Of course you need to understand there are three stations because the whole town is built on a side hill, excuse me, mountain side and you decide which station to get off depending on which direction is downhill to your destination. We chose the Vermont station and guessed wrong and still had an uphill hike to get to the station.

The ride down the mountain on the cog train (there is a gear under the train that turns on a gear on the tracks, a third rail kind of) is beautiful with vistas overlooking the vineyards in the valley below. Halfway down the mountain we are met with the cog train going up the mountain to Leysin and the driver is waiting by the switch waiting for us to pass him so he can proceed. Likewise our driver stopped, walked down the tracks and threw her switch so we could proceed down the hill. Pretty quaint.

Whatever was broken two days ago was fixed this morning so the cog train made it all the way to the station in Aigle (instead of taking the short bus ride). Our train to Geneva came right on time and even though it was not a high speed train it was very comfortable and got us to Geneva right on time. We enjoyed sitting near three older folks who spoke English and were having a reunion of some kind from when they were in the Peace Corps back in the 70’s. One had been a diplomat of some kind and they rehashed a lot of the U.S. politics and foreign affairs things from the last 40 years they had seen.

Next train was a medium speed train from Geneva to Lyon. No reserved seats so you sit anywhere. We were joined a few stops along by an older couple who had all kinds of bags piled all around us and began making sandwiches and eating them with what few teeth they had. They were a little rough around the edges but very friendly as they gnawed away at their baguettes. They spoke no English but Deb was able to keep a bit of conversation going with him. He was a very funny guy and his wife and I were enjoying seeing Deb and her husband try to carry on a conversation. She actually may have spoken better English. A very colorful couple for sure.

We arrived right on time in Lyon and walked to the hostel (Yasi) which was only a few blocks from the station. The hostel was small and basic and had maybe a dozen rooms. We had a private room so we had our own bathroom. Then off to explore Lyon. 

Lyon is the second largest city in France after Paris so it’s pretty big. They have all kinds of public transportation so Google maps to the rescue. We went to the beautiful Basilica at the high part of town (Funicular) and then next door to the Roman coliseum next door. This city is old. We had dinner outdoors in front of the beautiful St Jean church, so good people watching and good food.

We got lost and almost got scammed by an over-friendly young woman and her friend “helping” us get back to the train station, but  we finally did get back and walked to the hostel.