Thursday March 9 started out as a beautiful sunny day!! It clouded over in the afternoon, but the temperature was warmer than the past few days--- it got up to 17C.
We had reservation for the Free Tour of Lyon at 10:00 a.m. Our tour guide, Paul, was from the Netherlands and has lived in Lyon for the past nine years. He was a very good guide, providing a lot of interesting history about Lyon and taking us to a few secret places, which we would not have found on our own.
Our meeting place was in front of Cathêdrale Saint-Jean in Vieux Lyon just about a 10 minute walk from our apartment on the other side of the Saône River.
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| Crossing the bridge- looking up at the Basilica Notre-Dame de Fourvière |
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Walking down Rue Juiverie -- named after the Jewish population,
who resided on the street during the Middle Ages until their expulsion in 1379. |
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| At Place Saint-Jean looking up at the Basilica |
Paul first told us about the Basilica, which can be reached by funicular. It is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and is registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is not an old church. Building commenced in 1872 just after the Franco-Prussian War. According to Paul, the Lyonnais said that if they were spared from the Germans attacking Lyon, that they would built a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The city was not attacked and building commenced in 1872. It was funded by public subscription and completed and inaugurated in 1896 and is located at the top of "the hill which prays". The Basilica Notre-Dame de Fourvière's name came from the fact that it was built on the site of an old Roman forum. The Romans founded Lugdunum (Lyon) in 43 B.C. on what is today called Fourvière Hill. There is still a Roman theatre near the present Basilica. In the 4th century, the population started to move down the hill to the Vieux Lyon area to get water.
Paul then told us about the Cathédrale Saint-Jean, explaining that the Cathedral is the seat of the Archbishop of Lyon. It was constructed between 1180-1476.
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| Cathédrale Saint-Jean |
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| Inside the Cathedral |
We went into the Bourbon chapel, built by the Cardinal Charles II, Duke of Bourbon and his brother Pierre de Bourbon, son-in law of Louis XI.
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| Beautiful stained glass windows in the Chapel |
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Paul pointed out that "Charles" is spelled out in thinner script at the bottom of the railing.
He definitely wanted to leave his mark. |
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| More beautiful windows |
We went over to see the Astronomical Clock, which dates back to the 14th century. Apparently, some mentally ill person went into the side entrance of the clock a number of years ago and broke some of the mechanisms. It was supposed to be fixed by 2018, but they are still working on it.
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| The astronomical clock in the Cathedral |
We went outside and Paul pointed out some of the broken statues and gargoyles on the front and sides of the Cathedral. These were the results of Protestant attacks on the Church long ago.
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| Broken statues |
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| The second gargoyle from the right of the photo was rebuilt in the image of the man who did the restoring. |
We started to explore some of the streets of Vieux Lyon. Paul took us to the back of a silk scarf store located a few minutes from the Cathedral, which had a smaller version of a Jacquard loom. The silk industry had such an important place in Lyon's history. Paul explained what a revolution the Jacquard loom caused, as it only required one person to run it, rather than two.
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| A loom and the punch cards--principles that later applied to computer development |
We then went into a door, which had a plaque indicating that it was La Longue Traboule. Traboules in Latin means "to pass through". They are shortcuts allowing one to pass from one street to another through corridors. This particular traboule or passageway wound its way through four different buildings and courtyards and links Rue Saint-Jean with Rue du Boeuf. Under the terms of an agreement between the owners and local authorities, the owners undertake to open the traboule during the day and to keep it clean.
There are about 400 hidden corridors, narrow passages, and stairwells in Lyon, but only about 50 are open to the public. The first traboules were built in the 4th century to allow people access to the town's freshwater source quickly. Later, during the Renaissance, the passages were used for Canuts (Lyonnais silk workers) to transport their work between workshops in the Croix-Rousse neighbourhood to the textile merchants at the foot of the hill. During WWII, they were used by the French Resistance fighting against occupying German forces. Paul explained that they are only found in Vieux Lyon and Croix- Rousse. He also explained that some are clearly marked, but that others can be opened by pushing the bottom button on the key pad that does not have a name associated with it. This works prior to noon, as that is how postal carriers get into apartments to deliver mail.
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| Part of the long traboule--- very cool |
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| This traboule is in very good shape and well lit |
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| Door we came out of the traboule |
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| New food hall with trendy name |
Paul took us into a few more of the traboules which were not marked with a plaque.
After the war, US intelligence services employed him for his anti-communist activities and aided his escape to Bolivia, where he advised the dictatorial regime on how to repress opposition through torture. He emigrated to Bolivia in 1951 and lived there under the alias of Klaus Altmann. He was discovered to be in Bolivia in 1972, by Serge and Beate Klarsfeld, the Nazi hunters from France, but it took until 1983, and a regime change in Bolivia, until he was arrested and extradited to France. In 1983, the US formally apologized to France for aiding Barbie's escape from an outstanding arrest warrant.
There was a period of pre-trial investigations and then the jury trial started on May 11, 1987. The court allowed the trial to be filmed because of its historical importance. A special courtroom was constructed with seating of an audience of about 700 people. He was tried on 41 separate counts of crimes against humanity, based on the depositions of 730 Jews and French Resistance survivors. On July 4, 1987, Barbie was the first person in France to be convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to life imprisonment. He died from cancer in prison in 1991.
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| The Palais de Justice where Klaus Barbie was tried. |
We walked over to the Presqu'ile centre of the city area where we are staying.
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| The sculpture we saw the other day in the sunshine |
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Lyon is a beautiful city- the sun really helps
Paul took us over to the Place des Jacobins to show the contrast between the City Centre, comprised of largely 19th century buildings and Vieux Lyon. |
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| Place des Jacobins |
The tour ended at Grand Hôtel-Dieu, which had been Lyon's main hospital for 800 years. It is located on the West Bank of the Rhône river on the Presqu'ile Peninsula. It ceased to function as a hospital in 2010. It was converted into a high-end shopping and dining centre. Renovation started in 2015. The InterContinental Lyon-Hotel Dieu opened in part of the building in 2019.
After the tour, we went for a coffee and a light lunch at Slake, a buzzy coffee shop near Place des Jacobins.
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| Outside Slake |
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| Lots of drink choices and food |
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| Gorgeous coffee art and good quinoa salad that we shared |
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| Outside at Place des Jacobins -everybody out enjoying the sunshine at lunchtime |
We walked by an interesting store run by a collective of women artisans. There were three jewellers, a purse maker, and a clothes designer. I bought a sweatshirt from Leonor Roversi with one of her unique designs.
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| With Leonor-- I bought the same sweatshirt she is wearing |
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| We checked out Célestins Théâtre of Lyon, which had a Ukrainian flag draped on the front of the theatre. There were also a lovely group of cherry blossom trees. |
We continued our walk past Place Bellecour, where the Tourism Office is located. Our destination for the afternoon was the Musée des confluences.
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| Ferris wheel at Place Bellecour |
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| Statue of Louis XIV in Place Bellecour |
We continued to walk down towards the Gare Perrache, another major train station in Lyon, from where we will head to Paris.
We passed a small memorial to 44 children and their care-takers/teachers who were deported to Auschwitz on April 6, 1944, on the orders of Klaus Barbie. In April 1943, a children's home that provided refuge for dozens of children was establish in the village of Izieu. Between May 1943 and April 1944, over 105 children had been welcomed at this place of refuge. The home was run by Sabine Zlatkin. Although it was in an out of the way place, a decision was made to evacuate the children hidden there and on April 3, 1944, Zlatkin travelled to Montpellier to look for hiding places for the children. On April 6, 1944, the home was raided and all were arrested. A medical student, Leon Reifman, a medical student who took care of the sick managed to escape. His sister, a doctor at the home and his parents were all murdered at Auschwitz. Sabine's husband and two of the older boys were taken to Estonia where they were shot to death.
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| Memorial and small green area-- Train, bus and Metro station in the background |
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The children just a few days before they were arrested by the Gestapo.
They were well cared for at La Maison D'Izieu, in the countryside near Lyon. |
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There was a reference to Beate and Serge Klarsfeld who found Klaus Barbie in Bolivia, with the help of two mothers of the infants who had been been at the home.
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Memorial and names of those deported and murdered. 44 children aged 4-17 and six adults
were murdered. Only one of the teachers of those deported survived. |
We continued our walk past the Train station to the Confluence neighbourhood. The tunnel near the station had a pictoral history of the main architectural sites in Lyon.
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| Lots of great architecture in Lyon |
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| Entrance to the Musée des confluences |
The Museum of Confluence opened in December 2014 and is located between the Rhône and Saône Rivers. It was designed by the Austrian architecture firm Coop Himmelb(l) au. The building has no main facade, it is a multi-faceted stainless steel structure. It is a metaphor for constantly evolving knowledge. There is a garden and a rooftop terrance with a panoramic view over Lyon.
We decided to see the temporary exhibit entitled:
Marc Riboud: 100 photographies pour 100 ans (100 photographs for 100 years).
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| Poster for the exhibit |
Marc Riboud (1923-2016), was a French photographer born near Lyon. He went to lycée in Lyon and took his first pictures in 1937. He was active in the French Resistance from 1943-45. After the war, he studied engineering from 1945-48. Until 1951, he worked as an engineer in Lyon factories, but after taking a week-long holiday taking pictures, he was inspired to become a photographer. He moved to Paris where he met Henri-Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa and David Seymour, the founders of Magnum Photos which he joined in 1953. Over the next several decades, he travelled around the world. He was one of the first European photographers to go to China and also took photos in North Vietnam. In 1979, he left Magnum. He has had major retrospective exhibitions in Paris and at the International Center of Photography in New York. It was an excellent exhibit.
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| Picture of Marc Riboud in China |
The following photos were all taken by Marc Riboud:
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| Khyber Pass, 1956 |
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| Untitled, Kabul Airport, Afghanistan, 1955 |
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| Untitled, On the road to Van in Turkey, 1955 |
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| Antique Shop windows, Beijing, China, 1965. "In 1965, Bejing residents sold their family jewels to feed themselves. During the Cultural Revolution a year later, they were forced to hand over their gold and jewellery to the State with no compensation". |
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| Satyajit Ray on the set of his second feature film "Aparajito" (The Unvanquished), Calcutta, India, 1956 |
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| Pine Pass, route 97, Rocky mountains in the direction of Vancouver, Canada, 1958 |
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| Untitled, Hue, South Vietnam, 1968 -- Battle of Hue, where the city was ravaged by bombs. Riboud was one of the only Western photographers to cover the event on site. |
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| The young girl with the flower, Washington, D.C., 1967--- Taken in front of the Pentagon. One of Riboud's most famous photographs |
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| On the barricades in May 1968, Paris, France |
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| Untitled, Phat Diem, North Vietnam, 1969 |
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Zhou Enlai, Peking, China, 1971. "Holding up his two fingers, the Prime Minister of the People's Republic of China shows why he learned during his long stay in France in the 1920s:
one, Marxism, two, Leninism." |
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| Jubilation on the day of Algerian Independence, Alger, Algeria, 1962 |
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| Nun in front of Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris, France, 1953 |
One of the last pictures shown, was one of his best known. "When Riboud moved to Paris in 1953, the Eiffel Tower was being repainted. He climbed up the stairs with his camera to meet these acrobatic painters. His friend Robert Capa selected this photo. It was his first publication in
Life magazine and his passport for joining Magnum Photos".
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| The Painter of the Eiffel Tower, Paris, 1953 |
We really enjoyed the exhibit. Riboud had a terrific eye, and he worked on form constantly. He took to heart the advice of Henri Cartier-Bresson that a photo must be composed like a painting. He certainly succeeded.
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| View from the second floor of the confluence of the two rivers |
We continued to the permanent exhibitions on the second floor. The four rooms deal with:
Origins-Stories of the World; Species-the Web of Life; Societies- human theatre; and Eternities- Visions of the beyond.
The exhibits had many different displays and mixed both ancient pieces with the modern, covering the themes of the museum. It was a very exciting approach to museum displays, but a bit overwhelming. It would take a number of visits to explore the permanent exhibits thoroughly. It was also difficult to take photographs as the lights were dim and displays overlapped.
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| Sphinx, 664-323 BC, Upper Egypt |
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| Arctic Legend, 2002, Peter Morgan (b. 1951), Nunavik, Canada |
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| Esprit, 2000, Tonton Sharks (b. 1970), Nunavut, Cape Dorset, Canada |
There were a surprising number of pieces from Nunavut and the Canadian north done by Canadian indigenous artists.
Another gallery featured a number of inventions illustrating human's creativity.
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| A Jacquard loom in the inventions part of the exhibit |
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| Exchanges |
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| Creating |
We then went to the top floor of the Museum, where there is a small café and an outside deck with an amazing view of the city and the confluence of the two rivers.
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| One side had a view of the Basilica |
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| Part of the museum and Alps in the distance |
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| The confluence of the Saône and the Rhône Rivers |
We were able to catch a tram back to the Gare Perrache and then walked back to our apartment on a number of pedestrianized streets filled with lovely stores. We stopped at François Pralus, master chocolate maker, to pick up one of his chocolate bars and to get a small brioche with pink pralines, made famous by his father, called a "Praluline". There was a small line up to buy the brioches and a salesperson stood in front of table, wrapping each order. Our guide had pointed out one of their other stores on our tour. A very popular spot with locals. The women in front of us told us they were delicious.
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Outside the shop
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| Wrapping our "Praluline" |
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| Busy wrapping orders- she worked very quickly |
We then stopped at the Marché Presqu'ile and bought some fish for our Friday dinner at the Noe counter. They have their own shop in another part of town.
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| Noe |
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| The MOF Mons cheese counter- they had a few samples |
We walked back to our apartment. The violin store is across the small square to our apartment building. We enter through the wooden door. The blue building houses a small gelato store (definitely too cold this trip for gelato).
We headed out to dinner at Le Bouchon des Filles, only a five minute walk from our apartment. This place had come highly recommended by our host and others. It is run by women and while it serves traditional food, it integrates old-school tradition and contemporary touches. The Bouchon traditions has been around since the 16th or 17th century and started in the Croix-Rousse, thanks to silk workers who were in search of a warm, home-cooked meal in a friendly setting after finishing work in the early morning. The style of food was handed down by Les Mères Lyonnaises, a group of women chefs who opened their own restaurants from the mid-18th century onward, helping build Lyon's gastronomic reputation.
Outside the restaurant
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| Homey interior- the place was full by the time we were on our main course. Alain holding our carafe of Côte de Rhône-- called a "pot" in Lyonnais |
There is a prix-fixe menu of four courses for 30 euros. The first course was a no-choice parade of salads, which included a bowl of green puy lentils and shallots; a carrot salad; and pork cheeks with oranges and lemons.
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| Three large bowls of the appetizers to share. All excellent. |
In between the starters and main course, we were given a small shot glass of a warm cauliflower soup. It had cream, so Alain had both shots. He said it was delicious.
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| Tasty between course warm cauliflower soup |
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| For his main course, Alain had saucisson Lyonnais with pistachios, herb oil and mashed potatoes |
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| I had the black pudding with apples and herb salad-- recommended by the server and delicious |
There was then a cheese course, with a choice of three local cheeses.
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| Very tasty |
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| Alain had chocolate fondant with caramel sauce for dessert and I had lemon sorbet. |
The food and service and the cozy room was wonderful. However, we are just not used to four course meals and we were very full. There are no à la carte options at dinner time at the Bouchons. We had another Bouchon meal planned for Saturday night, but we cancelled it and may try instead to do an à la carte lunch before we leave the city. Wow, what a full day, but there is a lot to experience and see in Lyon.
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