Last Eurail Trip

It was umbrella weather as Terry and I walked to the far bus stop early Saturday morning. That bus only comes once an hour, so we made sure we were there in good time.  The three day weekend for L'Armistice made for crowded conditions on the train; we were lucky to get seats in second class.  Many people sat on the floor all around the doors. We'd settled on Lyon as our destination, it being only 3 hours away, and the third largest city in France.
I'd heard there was a big shopping centre right beside the gare in Lyon.  It, too, was too crowded to be fun.  I was already tired, and wondered what I was doing at a "mall" so like the giant ones back home.  I'd wanted to explore the Carrefour department store, but all we did was buy some chocolate.  I should say, I picked out the chocolate.  Terry said, "I'm staying right here with the buggy while you look."

People sitting to eat their sandwiches

After trudging to the Hotel du Parc we'd reserved online, and resting awhile, we went out walking again.  Lots of beautiful buildings, squares, fountains and statues.

City Hall, Place des Terreaux

 

Lion at Place des Avocats in Vieux Lyon

  These paintings on buildings are called "trompe d'oeil", an art technique to create an optical illusion.  The eye is fooled into thinking that the painted objects exist in three dimensions.  There are many of them around the city; in fact Lyon is called the French capital of  trompe d'oeil.  We only saw this one.

Place Bellecour, one of the largest town squares in Europe

Do you see the Subway in the background?

Bortholdi Fountain at Place des Terreaux

The next day it had stopped raining.  We'd had a delicious meal at a restaurant near the hotel on Saturday night, and a "continental breakfast" of fresh croissants, cheese, jam, meats, orange juice, and tea and coffee in the morning. 

Our destination was the Basilique Notre Dame de Fourviere, seen in the picture behind Terry. Also on the hill is a metal tower that looked familiar.  It was actually built in 1894 to resemble  the top part of the Eiffel tower in Paris. Lyon grew up around two rivers, the Rhone, and the Saone, hence many bridges connect parts of the city.  We took a 3 minute funicular to the top of the hill, stopping halfway up to see some Roman ruins.

Roman amphitheatre

It's hard to believe these ruins have been here since the Romans came to what was then Gaul in 43 BC.

Terry and I were clambering over the rocks and taking pictures of the view when a red vested man started yelling at us, "Interdit!"  We found out as we exited that area that we weren't supposed to be climbing on the walls.

The Basilique Notre Dame de Fourviere was huge, the ceiling covered with tiny crumbling mosaic tiles, the interior ornate. I wanted to see the scene showing Joan of Arc, but there was scaffolding everywhere because the mosaics were being restored.

Another interesting feature of the Old Town were the traboules.

These are indoor passageways from medieval times connecting parallel streets, that allowed people to quickly get from one area of the city to another.  During World War II they were used for info-gathering and escape routes for the Resistance

This relaxing day included a stop at a patisserie, where we had delicious quiches, and then pastries on top of that.  Well, an experience we both enjoyed. I tried not to think of the calories. A gentleman peering into the window at the same time we did  proclaimed, "This is a good one."  He was right. 

We came home satisfied with our weekend, despite the rainy start.