Tuesday, 19 November: Lyon

     I boarded the TGV (train) in Montpellier at 6:25 a.m. and by 8:20 a.m. I was in Lyon. Three cheers for the European train system!!

     I had a very difficult time finding my way out of the Lyon Part Dieu train station (this seems to be a theme for me...) But, one grumpy station worker and two lovely Frenchmen later, I was on the metro to Place Bellecour in the heart of Lyon. 

my first view of Lyon standing in Place Bellecour

    One of the Frenchmen asked me if I was in Lyon on business. I said I was touring but as a historian and that I studied the Résistance. He was VERY excited and chatted with me a few moments about Lyon's Résistance movement (de Gaulle dubbed Lyon the Résistance capital) and about Jean Moulin and Klaus Barbie. De Gaulle sent Moulin into France to unite the unorganized, often chaotic, resistance movement. He was successful, but while in Lyon he was betrayed by a fellow résistant. Moulin was arrested and tortured by Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie, the Butcher of Lyon. Moulin endured days of torture, and never gave up any other operative or information. In the end, Moulin died from his wounds. The former Gestapo HQ is now a huge museum & archives of resistance and deportation, but of course, it was closed on Tuesdays... I suppose it is a good reason to go back.

     Lyon offered free walking tours (it only cost a tip to the guide), so I went to the meeting place for that. On my way there, I stopped at Place des Jacobins. I was hoping for a Robespierre fix, but that didn't happen...

I met up with my tour group in the Place des Terreaux near Lyon's Hôtel de Ville (town hall). The bas relief of Henry IV is newer...there used to be one of Louis XIV, but it was torn down during the 1789 French Revolution. 

There was a lot of construction in the Place des Terreaux (thus the fencing in the photo), but our tour guide stopped to show us this statue. It was originally meant to go to Bordeaux, but they couldn't pay for it, so it went to the 1889 World's Fair in Paris (same year as the Eiffel Tower was unveiled), then it ended up in Lyon. It was just refurbished a couple of years ago, but they added a new feature...apparently, they put something in the horses' noses so when the fountain is going, it actually looks like steam is coming out of their nostrils!

     Lyon was best known for its silk. It is where the jacquard loom was invented and first put to use. Because the streets were so filthy (that much has not changed, I'm afraid) and silk was so expensive, the workers needed a way to transport it without it getting ruined. This is where the traboules, or "secret" passages came in handy. There are hundreds all over Lyon, but not all are open to the public.

 

    Lyon has a thriving art movement, including street art. Some of the graffiti gets mixed in along the way, but there is some interesting street art, for certain. Oh, and  in case you're wondering, the eyes are David Bowie's...

         My favorite street art was the giant 3D mural (there is one in Montpellier...see Monday's blog). In each "window" is a famous Lyonnais. The last photo, I zoomed in on two of my favorites...the Lumière Brothers. And right above them, you may recognize Le Petit Prince...I inadvertently cut off Antoine Saint-Exupéry's head. Oops.

     The city of Lyon is also trying to bring new businesses like restaurants and artisan's to the city, and have set up a cooperative where aspiring chefs and artists/designers can rent a shop very inexpensively for a couple of years until they are established (Pittsburgh does something similar).

     We hoofed it up to a place that gave us a wonderful view of the city. I do not know what the Eiffel Tower's mini-me is doing up there. The humongous church Notre Dame de Fourvière was built after the Franco Prussian War (1870) as a thank you to the Virgin Mary for saving the city...very similar story to the Basilique du Sacré Cœur in Paris.

      The remnants of this Roman amphitheater is evidence of Lyon's Roman roots. The Emperor Claudius was born in Lyon. In fact, to show how grateful he was to the citizens there, he gave them rights unheard of outside of Rome - the opportunity to have representation in the Senate, and the privilege of being beheaded rather than crucified. Merci beaucoup??

     There were many other stunning views along the way...

     But my favorite views were near the Sâone River. The Rhone River is on the other side of the city, but every time I tried to find it, I ended up at the Sâone. Even with Google Maps I still walked in circles. I clearly would make a poor navigator.

     We ended our tour in the Jewish Quarter of Vieux Lyon (Old Lyon). Here we learned of the expulsion of Lyon's Jews back in the 1400's (no surprise). We also learned that the puppet show was created here as a means of entertaining the silk workers during the industrial revolution. While the story was fascinating, standing outside the puppet museum with all the puppets looking at me only confirmed my belief that puppets are creepy.

    But before we departed, our guide gave us advice about the famous Lyonnais bouchons. These restaurants were created by working class women during the industrial revolution. The factory workers could not afford meat, so these women would make hearty meals out of whatever parts of the cows and pigs were leftover. I'm talking cheeks, feet, entrails - even the colon (I nearly wretched at that one). In fact, there is a saying - dans le cochon, tout est bon - in the pig, all is good (me wretching again). Suffice it to say, I stayed far away from the bouchons. Because my saying is dans le cochon, rien n'est bon...well, except bacon. 

     By this point I was starving and well past hangry (it was 12:15 and I had not eaten since 5:30 a.m.) But as I passed the church of Saint-Jean Baptiste, I knew I had to go in or I would regret it. And I'm very glad I did. Besides being beautiful, it ended up being the place where Henry IV married his second wife, Marie de Medici (parents of Louis XIII).

     My excursion went a little south from there. I was exhausted, very hungry (and my waiter was R-U-D-E!), cold, and had a terrible blister on my toe. I wanted to go back to Montpellier, but I had 4 hours to kill before my train departed. I walked around some more, stopped for hot tea, walked again...According to my iPhone, I walked 23,868 steps which works out to around 11 miles. Holy moly. But I am glad I went. I am in no hurry to go back again, but do hope to return to the Resistance & Deportation museum when it's actually open...