snapshots abroad: France: Lyon

This morning we arrived to the sight of even more swans. Lyon sits across two rivers, the Rhone and the Saone. Their confluence occurs in the southern part of town. We pulled into our docking station on the Rhone and we couldn't have been in a more convenient place to access the center of the city. However, since it is a large city of half a million people (1.5 million in the surrounding area), we were loaded onto a bus in order to get around since we do have many older people on the trip and Lyon has some very tall hills.

First our tour guide had the bus drive go past a highway tunnel that is both a necessity and an annoyance for Lyon. When people from all over Europe want to use the A6 highway, they all have to go through the tunnel in Lyon eventually. The tunnel is only two lanes in each direction, so you can see why people dislike it.

After passing by the traffic tunnel we began to wind our way up Fourviere Hill. We saw some of the original city ramparts that still cling to the steep hillside and also the ruins of two Roman theaters (no pictures, we didn't get off the bus to take a look). At the top of the hill sits Notre Dame Basilica. In the 1870s when Prussians were invading France the people of the city prayed to the Virgin Mary that their city would be spared. The bishop of Lyon had vowed to build a magnificent tribute to Mary, and it turns out that the Prussians did not invade Lyon. After, construction began (with more than 2,000 workers) and the church was finished by World War I.

There are masses held regularly at the church but no weddings, funerals, or baptisms are allowed because it is a city church. The amount of detail and embellishment both inside and out are astonishing, however many people find it distasteful and call it the "upside down elephant" because of its four gaudy towers. The interior is rich in gilded mosaics. One of them depicts a city scape of Lyon, but incorrectly. The artist guessed the location of the Roman arena(s) 30 years before they were discovered by archeologists.

Outside the church there is a scandalously familiar metallic structure that looks suspiciously like the Eiffel Tower. Around the corner is a nice viewing area from where you can look down into the city of Lyon. The air was quite hazy. France has a rather bad city pollution problem and it was apparent this morning. To be fair the clouds probably contributed today but I have noticed that my hair smells pretty dirty at the end of every day we spend in the cities here.

Next, we went to the old Renaissance part of the city at the bottom of Fourviere hill. There was a former stock exchange building and many buildings with embellishments. One interesting feature about the area, especially Lyon, are the traboules. In the middle ages covered pedestrian alleys were built into floorplans. The traboules have a door on each side, making them look like the entrance to a private residence. In reality, they were a sort of narrow foyer from which many residence could access their apartments (going up 4 or 5 floors). If you needed to get around town, the traboules take you from one street to the other. These little secret passages proved to be very helpful during the World War II occupation. If the Nazis were following someone and their prey happened to enter a traboule, the Nazis would wait outside for hours, thinking the person was still inside the building.

After our tour of the old city we went to the main square in front of city hall, which was being prepared for a visit from the president of China and his wife. We went around the corner and entered a silk workshop where we observed scarf silk screen painting and jacquard painting (by hand!). Did you know that the Jacquard loom was invented in Lyon?

After lunch we had the afternoon free in the city. I had spotted a military surplus and vintage shop in the old city, so I wanted to go back to that. Three other ladies on our trip were interested in seeing it too, so the five of us went for a nice stroll. It turned out that the vintage shop was less military surplus and more overpriced vintage clothes and cheap shoes, but it was worth a look. We did some bakery-hopping around the streets and eventually made it over a pedestrian and back to the peninsula that sits between the two rivers. Lyon has many optical illusion murals around the city. We found one that had many famous Lyonnaise and we had so much fun posing with the people in the mural (I will have to get pictures from Maury later).

We came back to the boat for dinner. After, Maury and I went for a nice walk in the city since all of the monuments, churches, and bridges are lit by floodlights at night. It was beautiful.

Inside and outside of Notre Dame

See the upside-down elephant?

Our tour guide did not have an English word for translation,

but the style of sausage seen here is called "Jesus"

Quintessential France

Going through a traboule

Looking up to the balconies inside the Traboule, a famous Lyon puppet character in a toyshop (Guignol)

Silk screen demonstration (finished scarf over his left shoulder),

showing the finished product of hand-painted Jacquard velvet

A beautiful fountain in the city hall square, created by Frederic Bartholdi (the sculptor who designed the statue of Liberty).

The fountain was originally made for the city of Bordeaux, who's major balked at the cost. It went on display at an exposition in Paris, and the mayor of Lyon fell in love with the fountain. It represents France riding the four great rivers of its country (Rhone, Seine, Loire, and Garonne, I think)