Péniche, or riverboat on the Rhone river

There are these barges docked along one side of the Rhone river next to Pont Wilson bridge, near where we stayed a long time back at the Grand Hotel Concorde, which turn into bars on the weekend.

They're equipped with bars below deck and the neat thing about it is that you can be sipping a cocktail while you watch the water in the Rhone flow past you through portholes. Yes, for you are below the level of the water of the Rhone! It's difficult to explain but it's sort of like what I imagine it would be like being on a cruise ship.

I was here at one of the peniches for a reception put on by the local Lyon staff of the 20 minutes daily newspaper. They wanted a question and answer session with the local readers and I sent them an e-mail telling them I wanted to sit in.

Actually, I was hoping for the free party food (which came after the reception! yes, sandwiches, kir (cassis+white wine) cocktails, raw ham (like the kind Dad likes), desserts and all kinds of pupus. I did have six or seven raw carrot slices and four or five cherry tomatoes, to try to balance all the rich food out.

It was a cool experience and I doubt that I would've ever have gone to one of these kind of places were it not for this meeting.