We walked from our hotel to the Old Town area, which is our favorite part of Lyon. We were all a little sad that we didn't have more of a chance to enjoy Lyon while we were here, but that's the way it goes when you cram 4 credits into 2 weeks.
We wandered thru the Old Town area until we came upon a grouping of restaurants. After checking out the menu, we decided on this one since it had alot of 'French' dishes. I believe the name of the restaurant translates to "Beef Master" or perhaps "Teacher of Beef"? Not sure, but the menu looked interesting, so we sat down.
As has been the case in many restaurants, the waiter didn't speak much English. We tried to get by with our phrase book & the little French we knew between the 4 of us, but that only got us so far. So eventually, the waiter grabbed the phrase book & tried to find the French words he was saying. Then we find out that his first language is actually Italian; Elsa's fiance is from Malta (island near Italy) and is fluent in Italy, so for the rest of the evening, Adrianne served as our tranlator which worked like a charm!!
Since this was probably going to be my last nice meal in France, I decided to be a little bit adventurous with what I was going to order. We all did the fixed menu which came w/ an appetizer, entree, and dessert. I had a tough time deciding on an appetizer... and a tough time translating the menu (no English translation was provided). I figured out that one of the choices featured the bone marrow of a cow... not something I'd ever venture to eat back home, but I figured - heck, I am in France, might as well give it a shot. Plus, I had read about the use of bone marrow in cooking in the book "Julie & Julia"; the author had raved about how good it was, so I thought - why not give it a try. When I ordered it, I never imagined that it would actually come in an actual BONE though!!! I can't really describe what it tasted like. The top was kind of crusted over, but once you got thru that, it was pretty soft. Wasn't the most delicious thing I've eaten, but was definitely 'interesting'. I am glad I tried it, though. 
After dinner, I went to find the restrooms, and came to realize how far this restaurant took their "beef" theme. I walked down these spiral steps into the basement of the restuarant where the bathrooms are located & came face to face with a life-size replica of a cow!!! Not something I was expecting to see. It was so odd & hilarious. The 4th wall of the restroom was a glass wall so that you'd have a lovely view of the cow while going to the bathroom. Just odd & not something you'd see in the US (unless you were in some sort of theme restaurant). Inside the restaurant, one of the walls was covered in cow hide, as were the booths. Also, they had a gigantic cylindrical container that appeared to be full of Rose (popular wine in this region) with a fish swimming in it.... how that fits in w/ the cow theme is beyond me....
We headed back to the hotel after dinner since we were all pretty tired out. Was probably one of my most interesting meals since I have been here, so a good way to finish off our time in Lyon.
On Saturday I will take a train to Paris and will stay there until my flight leaves early Monday morning. I have enjoyed my time in France but am definitely looking forward to returning to the states!
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