Blog Posts

Meet Arnab Deka

Could you introduce yourself in a few lines?

Hello! I am Arnab! I am a software developer currently living in Bangalore. I primarily work with Ruby but dabble in Clojure often. I am a language-nut and am always experimenting with new langs and technologies.

I am also into astronomy and I'll be carrying my binos with me - talk to me if you want a close up look at Mars, Saturn and Jupiter!

Oh and socc… football!

You're giving a talk at Rulu this year. What will you talk about?

The talk will be about new concurrency related ideas/techniques, how they feel in their natural world (such as actors in the erlang/elixir world or STM in Clojure) and if/how we can use these ideas in Ruby today.

I'll introduce a few concepts, see some use-cases and examples and applications in Ruby.

Three properties:

  • You code with: Emacs
  • You test with: RSpec, MiniTest
  • If Ruby was forbidden, you would code in: Clojure

What Lyonnaise specialty will you give a try this year?

Boudin Blanc

What are you working on these days?

It's complicated ;)

I just finished a long-term contract with LivingSocial, where I was primarily working on Ruby and Rails.

As soon as I am back from France, I will be hacking with the awesome folks at Bangalore based nilenso.

Apart from that, I am working on the talk, as we speak.

What are the talks, books, libraries or commands you think more people should be aware of - because, well, they make your life so much better!

Anything to add before we wrap this up?

This is my first trip to France! À bientôt!

SNCF (train) Strike

Though strikes are less common in France than they were a decade ago, they still happen. Normally they don't inconvenience too many people, and the French people generally support the rights of the workers so a little inconvenience is tolerated. However, the current train strike is causing a lot of pain to a lot of people, and most people don't really understand the reason for the strike.

We're not going to try to explain it either, sorry. But you should be aware that it is currently hard to know whether it will get better or worse over the next few days. Plan ahead, allow extra time for your transportation via SNCF (and to a lesser degree, TER), and watch the info site (English translation) for updates on the traffic forecast.

Meet Konstantin Tennhard

Could you introduce yourself in a few lines?

Hi, I'm Konstantin Tennhard. A computer scientist from Darmstadt, Germany. I truly love my profession; both, the scientific aspect, as well as, the technical aspect. When it comes to computer science, machine learning and natural language processing are the things that fascinate me most. When it comes to building software, Ruby is probably my number one choice, but there are other language I find particularly fascinating: Go, JavaScript, Objective-C, Python, and R. When I'm not building software, I spent my time with photography. I also have a passion for good food, which is especially why I look forward to being in France very much.

You're giving a talk at Rulu this year. What will you talk about?

My talk is about large-scale Rails applications and the challenges we as developers face everyday. We start with a generic discussion on two of the most challenging aspects of software development: growth and change. In the second half, we explore how to model complex business processes so they can adapt to changing business requirements. Best of all, there will be a lot of code samples.

Three properties:

  • You code with: Vim
  • You test with: RSpec
  • If Ruby was forbidden, you would code in: Go

What Lyonnaise specialty will you give a try this year?

Quenelle sauce Nantua

What are you working on these days?

I'm doing a lot of machine learning and statistical data analysis these days. Apart from that I maintain smart_properties and composable_operations, which will both be covered in my talk. I'm also admittedly a little obsessed with my shell environment. There are those days where I almost exclusively work in the Terminal. My bash configuration can be found on GitHub. The most interesting part about it is probably the web-installer. It makes provisioning new VMs so much easier.

What are the talks, books, libraries or commands you think more people should be aware of - because, well, they make your life so much better!

Anything to add before we wrap this up?

I'm looking forward to meeting a lot of great people and to enjoy some French food along with some good French wine.

Discuss the Future of Ruby

Join us on Friday after lunch to discuss the future of Ruby with a panel, a moderator, and you. Yes, your participation is the secret sauce in this final session of RuLu 2014.

The atmosphere will be casual and inclusive. To ensure that, we will meet at La Goutte for this discussion, where you can enjoy a snack and a beverage while we talk if you like.

la goutte

Some possible topics for this discussion are

  • Is the diversity of Ruby interpreters and compilers a strength or a weakness?
  • Threading and concurrency support is inconsistent between various Ruby interpreters. Is this a real issue? How does it compare to some other languages like Erlang or Scala?
  • Is Ruby mature? Is it evolving fast enough?
  • Will Ruby continue to be favored as other languages such as Rust, Go and Elixir mature? What about Haskell and Erlang, and other 'academic' languages?
  • The Ruby language aims to be natural and close to the programmer. As a consequence, Ruby interpreters tend to be quite complex internally and not as fast as other languages in similar applications. How important is this?

We all look forward to your participation in this discussion!

Meet Emily Stolfo

Could you introduce yourself in a few lines?

Salut ! I'm Emily and I work on the Ruby driver to MongoDB. I also teach Rails at Columbia University as an adjunct faculty. You can otherwise find me running, going to concerts, or on a plane to a place I've never been before.

You're giving a talk at Rulu this year. What will you talk about?

That wrap music: writing a Ruby API to wrap another API.

Three properties:

  • You code with: Sublime
  • You test with: RSpec, TestUnit
  • If Ruby was forbidden, you would code in: C

What Lyonnaise specialty will you give a try this year?

Cervelle des Canuts

What are you working on these days?

I'm splitting my time between maintaining the current Ruby driver (1.x) and working with my team to write a new one (2.0)

What are the talks, books, libraries or commands you think more people should be aware of - because, well, they make your life so much better!

Anything to add before we wrap this up?

I look forward to catching up with some rubyists I had the pleasure of meeting at dotrb last year and to meeting some new rubyists. In particular, if you're a mongo ruby driver user, let me know, I'd love to chat!

RuLu 2014 Schedule

The schedule has been posted for RuLu 2014. Check it out here and start making your plans.

Venue picture

The talks are 30 minutes long, with a 20 minute break between talks. Lunch will be provided on Thursday the 19th, and Friday (the 20th) you are free to partake of the local cuisine; there are at least 50 restaurants within walking distance so you can surely find something to your taste. The organizers and members of LyonRB will be happy to help you find whatever cuisine you're looking for.

After lunch on Friday, join us at a café close to Comédie Odéon for the discussion of the future of Ruby, a panel with audience (that's you!) participation. The discussion is scheduled for two hours.

After Party

UPDATE: The party venue has changed. We're now going to the Ayers Rock Boat. New address is 21 Quai Victor Augagneur 69003 Lyon. Best way not to get lost: check the map.

A great conference deserves a great party, so after the last talk on the 19th we will adjourn to Café 203 to drink, dine, and unwind. It's an appetite-enhancing 20 minute walk or a short Métro ride from the Comédie Odéon to Café 203, a comfortable place to fill your stomach and enjoy some conversation with your fellow Rubyists.

Café 203

RuLu will cover your first drink, and you can order appetizers or an entire meal if you wish.

Les Burgers

Hamburgers are quite popular in France, and with Lyon's gastronomic tradition there are some really amazing burgers to be found. Some consider the burgers at Café 203 to be the best in Lyon, though you can order more traditional food if you like.

burger

Routes.rb

There will be at least two groups going to the after party, one walking and one taking the Metro. Choose a group and follow the leader. If you want to be more independent, use your map app of choice to find 9 rue du Garet, 69001 Lyon or look at this map.

See you there!

Meet Tom Stuart

Could you introduce yourself in a few lines?

Hi, I’m Tom. I’m a computer scientist and a Ruby programmer. I’ve lectured on optimising compilers at the University of Cambridge, I co-organise the Ruby Manor conference, and I’m a member of the London Ruby User Group. Last year I wrote a book for O’Reilly called “Understanding Computation”, which used Ruby to explain ideas from theoretical computer science.

You're giving a talk at Rulu this year. What will you talk about?

I’ll be talking about a cool program manipulation technique called “partial evaluation”. I’ll explain how it works, how it can be used to make programs go faster, and what fun stuff happens when you run a partial evaluator on itself.

Three properties:

  • You code with: Vim
  • You test with: Cucumber, RSpec
  • If Ruby was forbidden, you would code in: Clojure

What Lyonnaise specialty will you give a try this year?

Something vegan!

What are you working on these days?

I’m writing a self-published ebook and screencast about how to create a Ruby web application without relying on a framework.

What are the talks, books, libraries or commands you think more people should be aware of - because, well, they make your life so much better!

I think Rich Hickey’s “Simple Made Easy” talk should be required viewing for anyone who makes software. Likewise, Eric Evans’ “Domain-Driven Design” book, and the GOOS book, are extremely helpful for getting to grips with the complexity of object-oriented design.

Anything to add before we wrap this up?

I still get daily enjoyment out of using Ruby and I’m looking forward to hearing about what other people are doing with it at RuLu. See you there!

How to Ride the Métro

Lyon's Métro system is newer than the one in Paris, and it shows. Many of the trains are driverless, the cars are newer and more comfortable, and the tracks are smooth. There are also three funiculars in Lyon, and we'll give those a pass on the "smooth track" because they have so much character.

There are also trams and buses under the same authority, so your tickets are good on all modes of transportation. You'll probably be riding the trains to get to RuLu, and hopefully you will stay for the weekend to enjoy the city. The TCL site has links to navigation apps for iOS and Android to help you find your way. They're useful even if you don't speak French.

Step 1: Buy a ticket

On the weekend you might want to get a Day Pass so you can ride all you want without interruptions to buy another ticket. The day pass costs about the same as three tickets so it's a pretty good deal if you're planning to take two round-trips or more in a single day. For the days of RuLu, though, you might split a Carnet of 10 tickets with a friend (you are bringing friends, aren't you?) and you'll have enough tickets to get from where you're sleeping to RuLu and back for both days. The extra ticket will get you to the after-party if you don't want to walk.

If you're planning to see all of the sights, the Lyon City Card might work for you. It is a day pass that also includes museum entry, tours, and lots more. all the things meme

The tickets are good for an hour, unlike the Paris Métro where a ticket is good for a single ride. This makes it possible to use a single ticket for a quick trip to the store or to make a reservation for a tour.

The transit police are very effective and have a little gadget that can print a fine slip on the spot if you don't have a ticket or your ticket is invalid. They have people on the trains and in the stations doing random checks. Don't waste your time trying to get around paying for your transportation.

Plan Your Route

You can use the TCL site or one of the apps linked from that site to plan your route. The estimated walking times are usually a little long, but keep in mind that the buses have very few time stops; if they are early, they won't wait until the time shown on the app. You can also get maps from the tourist offices; the best-equipped offices are at Bellecour and Vieux Lyon, just outside the station in both places.

Go!

On the Métro, you will use your ticket to get to the platform after you go downstairs into the station. On the tram and bus, look for a grey box just above waist level near the doors and validate your ticket. If all else fails, watch what everyone else does and do that.

On the trams, you may have to press the button on the door if the driver doesn't open all doors. On the buses, there are buttons near the back doors and in the aisle to request a stop.

A Few More Details

The trams and buses stay to the right, but the Métro is the opposite. Some stations don't have a way to cross to the other side once you're inside the station, but it's OK because your ticket is good for an hour. Still, it doesn't hurt to know this so you can choose the right platform the first time.

If you have a chip&PIN card (and if you don't know what that is, you don't have one), you can buy tickets from the machines in each station. Otherwise you must use coins or stand in line at one of the staffed stations. Most stations are not staffed, so plan ahead.

People-watching is quite common in public places. Smile and consider it a compliment; you're interesting!

Meet Phil Nash

Could you introduce yourself in a few lines?

Hi, I'm Phil Nash. I'm a Rails and front end developer from London, working at Mint Digital. Outside of coding, I have a passion for great beer and just started brewing my own (it doesn't taste bad!).

You're giving a talk at Rulu this year. What will you talk about?

I'm talking about front end performance and Rails, getting together the two sides of what I do. Performance is hugely important to the web and how we optimise our front end is just as important as getting our database queries running quickly. We'll look at how to make our front end fast now and how the rules will be changing with HTTP2.

Three properties:

  • You code with: Sublime
  • You test with: MiniSpec, MiniTest
  • If Ruby was forbidden, you would code in: Javascript

What Lyonnaise specialty will you give a try this year?

Quenelle sauce Nantua

What are you working on these days?

I am currently working on DeskBeers, a company within Mint Digital that aims to delivery craft beer to your office on a Friday afternoon.

What are the talks, books, libraries or commands you think more people should be aware of - because, well, they make your life so much better!

The Ruby-Test package in Sublime Text makes my testing so much faster. And I've always loved Tom Stuart's Programming with nothing talk from Ruby Manor 3.

Anything to add before we wrap this up?

I'm very much looking forward to coming to Lyon, meeting a whole bunch of new people and hopefully trying some of the local beer!

Meet Cameron Daigle

Could you introduce yourself in a few lines?

I'm Cameron Daigle, and I design & code at Hashrocket in Florida. I work with lots of developers on lots of projects.

You're giving a talk at Rulu this year. What will you talk about?

I'm going to be talking about how to smoothly hand off design to development (and back to design, when revisions need to be made), in hopes of making both designers' & developers' lives easier.

Three properties:

  • You code with: Vim
  • You test with: Cucumber
  • If Ruby was forbidden, you would code in: Coffeescript

What Lyonnaise specialty will you give a try this year?

The "Boudin Noir"

What are you working on these days?

In addition to a varied list of client projects, I'm working on The Informant, a usability-focused error-tracking Heroku addon (beta launch imminent).

What are the talks, books, libraries or commands you think more people should be aware of - because, well, they make your life so much better!

Anything to add before we wrap this up?

Can't wait to get back to France! Come talk to me at the conference – I'll be the one in a Hashrocket shirt.

Meet Paolo Perrotta

Could you introduce yourself in a few lines?

I'm a guy who wrote a lot of software in his life, and I like to talk about it. When it comes to Ruby, the most noticeable thing I did was writing the Metaprogramming Ruby book.

You're giving a talk at Rulu this year. What will you talk about?

I'll talk about complexity theory. It sounds quite abstract, and maybe a bit scary - but it's neither. You might find it fun.

Three properties:

  • You code with: TextMate

  • You test with: Cucumber, RSpec, MiniTest, JUnit

  • If Ruby was forbidden, you would code in: Python

What are you working on these days?

Sending the second edition of Metaprogramming Ruby to the printers. Aaaaalmost there…

What are the talks, books, libraries or commands you think more people should be aware of - because, well, they make your life so much better!

So many. I'm all for classics, so I think that any Project Manager who never read "The Mythical Man-Month" should be taken to the backyard and put out of his/her misery. Seriously, it's a book from 30 years ago, and people could still learn basic project management from it.

Anything to add before we wrap this up?

Nope. See you in Lyon!

Meet Terence Lee

Could you introduce yourself in a few lines?

Hello! I work at Heroku and lead the Ruby Task Force. We're in charge of the Ruby experience on the platform. You probably know me from being a Friday Hug evangelist. I've also done work on Bundler, Resque, Rails Girls, and Ruby.

You're giving a talk at Rulu this year. What will you talk about?

Contributing back to Ruby. zzak and I want to get as many people as possible involved with Ruby. This talk goes through some ways you can.

You attended Rulu in 2012. Are you excited to talk at Rulu 2014?

Hell yeah!

What makes you come back to Rulu this year? What did you like about the previous instance?

The conference had of course awesome food but I really enjoyed the format of 1:1 talk to break ratio. It provided ample hallway track time which is my favorite part of any conference.

Three properties:

  • You code with: Vim

  • You test with: RSpec, MiniTest

  • If Ruby was forbidden, you would code in: Clojure

What's your favourite Lyonnaise specialty?

The "Boudin Blanc"

What are you working on these days?

I've been mostly focused on ruby-core. I'm working on transparency and trust in the broader ruby community. For instance, I've been helping out with the recent ruby security announcements as well as summarizing Ruby Core developer meetings like this one.

What are the talks, books, libraries or commands you think more people should be aware of - because, well, they make your life so much better!

If you're interested in concurrency, Java Concurrency in Practice is a great resource on this matter. tenderlove had me read this when I was working on resque.

Anything to add before we wrap this up?

May the ruby be with you.

Meet Joshua Ballanco

Could you introduce yourself in a few lines?

I'm a software developer and sometimes-scientist. In the past I've worked for Apple and AOL, done a bit of consulting, and I even managed to finish my Ph.D. in Computational Evolutionary Biology. These days, I work at CircleCI, helping other devs run their tests and deploy code.

You're giving a talk at Rulu this year. What will you talk about?

I think that Ruby is at a critical juncture in its history: it's popularity has resulted in many other languages adopting features of Ruby, but those languages have also started to move beyond what Ruby can do. I'll talk a bit about where Ruby can go from here.

You attended Rulu in 2013. Are you excited to talk at Rulu 2014?

Hell yeah!

What makes you come back to Rulu this year? What did you like about the previous instance?

At last year's Rulu I met so many interesting people, many of whom I've remained in contact with since. I also enjoyed just walking around Lyon. Oh, yeah…and Lyon has much better free WiFi coverage than Brussels.

Three properties:

  • You code with: Vim

  • You test with: RSpec, MiniTest

  • If Ruby was forbidden, you would code in: Clojure

What's your favourite Lyonnaise specialty?

The "Salade Lyonnaise"

What are you working on these days?

Lately I've been writing scientific software with Java and Python, building a continuous integration server in Clojure, and writing a Scheme interpreter in Lua… but Ruby is still the first thing I reach for when working on anything new.

What are the talks, books, libraries or commands you think more people should be aware of - because, well, they make your life so much better!

Watch any/all of Rich Hickey's talks because, whether you agree with him or not, it's clear that he is someone who thinks very deeply about the process of developing software.

Anything to add before we wrap this up?

Thanks so much for the questions, and the opportunity to talk with everyone at Rulu! Whether you're just getting started with Ruby, or you've been there since the beginning, the most powerful feature of Ruby is the community.

Meet PJ Hagerty

Could you introduce yourself in a few lines?

Hi! I'm PJ! I'm a Community Engineer at Engine Yard!!

You're giving a talk at Rulu this year. What will you talk about?

This year at Rulu I plan to talk about The Mozart Effect - a concept that music can unlock cognitive potential if applied correctly and thereby make you a better coder.

You attended Rulu in 2013. Are you excited to talk at Rulu 2014?

Hell yeah!

What makes you come back to Rulu this year? What did you like about the previous instance?

I liked the size of the conference, the intensity. It's great to have everyone in one place interacting and conversing.

Three properties:

  • You code with: TextMate

  • You test with: RSpec

  • If Ruby was forbidden, you would code in: Python

What's your favourite Lyonnaise specialty?

The "Boudin Blanc"

What are you working on these days?

I'm currently working on bringing together community groups across languages in order to better focusing on problem solving instead of just the tools we use to solve them.

What are the talks, books, libraries or commands you think more people

should be aware of - because, well, they make your life so much better!

Anything to add before we wrap this up?

Looking forward to Lyon!!

Meet Yannick Schutz

Could you introduce yourself in a few lines?

I'm Yannick a belgian developer. Working mainly in Ruby. I love burgers and ruby so it came out that organizing Rubyburgers was a pretty smart idea. I'm a new dad and that's the most fantastic project I ever made. You might also see me talk about beers or coffee.

You're giving a talk at Rulu this year. What will you talk about?

I decided that the Ruby community, and most specifically the Rails one, have to stop thinking that their database is just a datastore. So I'll speak about special use cases of Postgresql. How you can use it in ways you may have not think about yet. And how you can embrace that tool to have a blazing fast and awesome app.

You attended Rulu in 2012 and 2013. Are you excited to talk at Rulu 2014?

I'm terrified for giving a talk!

What makes you come back to Rulu this year? What did you like about the previous instances?

Rulu is a small conference which is really about people. The format of the conference made possible for me to speak with so many great people. I remember asking Terence Lee, in a so shy way, why he liked his camera so much, and he answered me with the same passion he has with ruby. This is that kind of moment that make me come back every year at Rulu. Also your 'bouchons' are amazing.

Three properties:

  • You code with: Vim

  • You test with: RSpec, MiniTest

  • If Ruby was forbidden, you would code in: Go

What's your favourite Lyonnaise specialty?

The "Boudin Blanc"

What are you working on these days?

I'm finishing a contract with frontback, a mobile photo community. It's amazing to see people sharing small stories in only two pictures. I'm working more and more with Golang and try to build some little pet projects with it. And in a few weeks, I'll be joining the tools team at Heroku. So I don't know really what I'm working on when this will be published, but it's gonna be great.

What are the talks, books, libraries or commands you think more people should be aware of - because, well, they make your life so much better!

Anything to add before we wrap this up?

Go to Rubyburgers.co and open a chapter for your city. And also, come talk to me at Rulu.

Travel and Lodging

Before you can enjoy the wonder of the RuLu conference, you have to get to Lyon. Sleeping indoors always makes a conference more enjoyable as well. We'd like to help with both of those pursuits.

Getting to Lyon

If you're nearby, you can take a regional train (TER). From a little farther away, the TGV is your best bet. Out of TGV range? You'll be flying into Lyon's Saint Exupéry Airport.

By Train

In the Rhône-Alpes region, the TER trains are cheap and convenient. Rserve your ticket on the SNCF site. Your destination is Lyon Part-Dieu, which is convenient because it is a transport hub with connections to busses, trams, and the Metro system.

Outside the region, check the SNCF or CapitaineTrain site for routes from your location to Lyon. The trains stop at Gare Part-Dieu and Perrache. Once you choose a place to stay, you can decide which endpoint is best for you.

By Plane

Reserve a round-trip on the Rhônexpress to get from the airport to the city and back. You can buy your tickets onboard the train, but it's cheaper to reserve in advance and not difficult at all. After you land, follow the signs to the platform. The trains arrive every 15-30 minutes depending on the time of day. Choose a flight to LYS or check with your preferred discount airline or bucket shop.

Transport Within the City

The transport operator in Lyon is TCL, and their web site is very useful. Open that site in a tab; after you decide where to stay, you can plan your route from the train station. The site will suggest Metro, bus or tram, or some combination. Look at later trips to see if there is a simpler one. There is also a great app if you have data service on your phone (iPhone or Android). There is free wifi in many locations, like the Gare Part-Dieu.

Sleeping Arrangements

There are many hotels in Lyon, and of course Airbnb and VRBO can help too. The conference venue is on the peninsula near the center of the city, in the 2nd Arrondissement.

Sleepability

Bellecour isn't too noisy unless there is an event there, like the Fête de la Musique. Which is on the 21st, so if you don't plan to get out and enjoy the music, you might not want to stay too close to the places where bands are playing. Vieux Lyon has a ton of character, and it's also full of restaurants bars so you can expect noisy people to be leaving those bars around closing time. If you're planning to close the bars yourself, cool! The apartments and hotels in Vieux Lyon are old and interesting and charming. Near Gare Part-Dieu there are a lot of hotels that don't generally have so much character, but they are close to transportation, and also close to Les Halles de Lyon - Paul Bocuse where you can have a spectacular culinary experience. Remember that the trains run at night also, and pay attention to the location of the tracks relative to your hotel. Of course there are many neighborhoods in Lyon and this is not an exhaustive list.

Lyon is a Beautiful City

Hopefully you have reserved some time to enjoy the city before and/or after RuLu. Lyon has a long and fascinating history. In the present, though, Lyon is the gastronomic capital of France as well as being designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Fête de la Musique in Lyon

Friday is Fête de la Musique (World Music Day) and there is live music throughout the city! As the evening wears on, the streets, squares and parks of Lyon fill up with musicians putting on concerts - details here (in French). So, whatever you choose to do at the end of the day on the 21st, do make Fête de la Musique part of your plans!

Getting information

The main information center in Lyon is in Place Bellecour. They also have a website that is worth checking out. There are many scheduled tours of various sights in Lyon, and you can sign up for the tours here. Place Bellecour is well worth a visit - it is the main square in Lyon and will feature heavily in the festivities of Fête de la Musique.

Visit Old Lyon and the Basilica of Fourvière

Old Lyon (Vieux Lyon) is an old and quaint neighborhood, great for a meandering walk. It is a favourite amongst tourists and locals alike. It features Cathedral St Jean and several public squares, and narrow cobblestone streets lined with restaurants, bars, creperies and pubs. There is also a tourism office just outside the Metro station if you forgot to pick up a map when you visited Bellecour.

Fourviere and Roman Amphitheaters

One of several funiculars in Lyon can take you to Fourvière, or if you are not averse to a climb, you can walk up to the Basilica of Fourvière and visit the ruins of the Gallo Roman amphitheatre. There is a guided tour or you can make your own up by arming yourself with a map and getting to the Vieux Lyon Metro stop (on the D line, one stop west of Bellecour) and exploring the narrow streets of the quartier. There are a lot of Bouchons (restaurants typical of the Lyon area) in this area but be warned that some of them are overpriced tourist traps. It's hard to go wrong with a scoop of ice cream or a crepe as you take in the sights. The view of Lyon from Fourvière is quite something and the walk through the gardens to the Basilica is very pleasant, so, if it’s good weather, this is a good way to build up an appetite!

Explore Croix-Rousse

Croix-Rousse is bohemian Lyon at it’s best! This quartier features some of Lyon’s best independent art, craft, food and drink. Want a souvenir to take home? You’ll find something original here for sure! Explore the traboules and if you have some time, walk through the new tunnel and enjoy the light show.

Pink-Robot-Girl

Start at the Hotel de Ville metro stop (on the A line), check out the sights around the Opera and Place des Terreaux, and then head uphill. You can find awesome, locally designed t-shirts at Laspid in Place du Griffon, some of Lyon’s best coffee at Cafe Mokxa (3, Rue de l’Abbé Rozier) and lots of studios and boutiques as you wander up the Montée de la Grande Côte to the center of Croix-Rousse. At the top you get majestic views over the presquile.

If you feel like a beer after your climb, suggest checking out Dikkenek Cafe at 3 rue d’Austerlitz, close to the center of Croix-Rousse. They have a variety of beers on tap, and several delicious charcuterie options.

Check out the Parc de la Tete d'Or

Feel like escaping the urban village? Head to 117 hectares of beautiful parkland in the north of Lyon. The Parc de la Tete d’Or is a great place to go for a stroll or a run. It has a lake (where you can rent a pedal boat!), a zoo, and it is right next to Lyon’s museum of modern art, the Musée d’art Contemporain de Lyon. You can get to the park by walking there from the Massena metro stop (line A) or taking a bus to the Museum (the C5 from Place Bellecour).

Don't forget your hat and sunblock, grab your map and enjoy the city! Share your discoveries with your fellow RuLu attendees

Venue

This year's RuLu venue is Comédie Odéon, "the most beautiful cafe/theatre in France". Only three short blocks from the Cordeliers stop on the Metro A line, it is very close to the historic center of Lyon at Bellecour and the charm of Croix Rousse.

Comédie Odéon was remodeled two years ago, and the interior is modern where it counts. The sound is clear even on the balcony, and the seats are very comfortable. Speaking of seats, there are plenty of them so you can sit with your friends. There is an attached bar with room for all of us to socialize.

Getting to the Venue

The most painless way to get to Comédie Odéon is by Metro. On the TCL site, your destination is "Cordeliers, Lyon 2eme (Arrêt)". After you arrive at the Cordeliers stop, go east toward the Rhône on Rue Grenette for one block, then turn right on Rue Grolée.

After RuLu

Lyon is full of things to do, see, and eat. Rue Merciere is a few blocks from the venue, a beautiful cobblestone street full of interesting restaurants. A 10-minute walk will take you to Vieux Lyon where you can take a funicular to see the Roman amphitheatre, or to Fourvière for spectacular views of the city. Or ask a local; we all love to show off our city.