20240608 Saturday, June 8, 2024; A Day at the Lyon Beaux Arts Museum
The weather forecast for today was for rain so we decided to spend most of the day indoors at the Beaux Arts Museum. First we adventured out to the François Pralus nearby to see if we could buy a definitive Pink Praline tart, only to discover not only a long line out the door, but that while they sell the Pink Praline candies and bake the Pink Praline breads, they don’t make the torts there. So we bought some of the bread and candies, and then headed back to the Le Pain Des Jacobins a couple of the small tarts. We had to endure long lines at both places.
We also bought a fresh baguette to have with Nutella we had in the apartment, and retreated to the apartment to have the baguette with Nutella for breakfast. That was filling enough that we decided to save the tarts for dessert later.
We ventured out again and wandered through a farmer’s market along the Saône bank which was quite lively and active. They had all manner of fresh vegetables and fruit with signage indicating the country and even county of origins of the produce. There were also butcher stalls with refrigerator cases showcasing all sorts of cuts of beef, lamb, poultry (chicken, duck, game hens), and even rabbit.
There were also seafood vendors with a wide variety of fresh fish and oysters on ice. There were also several flower vendors doing brisk business. There were also a couple of rotisserie chicken vendors with multiple chickens on the rotisseries. It was a bit odd to find someone selling mattresses between two butcher stalls. It looked like the denizens of Lyon really do rely on these markets for their fresh produce, meats and cheeses.
It didn’t take long to be back at the place des Terreaux. Although we had felt a rare droplet of rain, the sky was only partly cloudy with the sun intermittently shining strong so we felt brave enough to investigate the nearby Amphithéâtre des Trois-Gaules, expecting to find an archeological site, but instead finding a public space actually being used for public performances with a stage and infrastructure added to the ancient Roman ruins. They had free performances listed including some sort of performance for 6:30pm tonight. But it did involve climbing a bit back up the Croiss-Rousse, so it’s doubtful we’ll be back for the show.
We headed back to the Beaux Arts Museum and went inside. They did offer an audio guide in English for 1€ which did help us work our way through the galleries. We spent a lot of time in the first floor sculpture galleries before taking a break to go out to get some lunch. Unlike the Louvre, we could exit and re-enter the Beaux Arts Museum ad lib.
There were a ton of restaurants radiating along the streets from the place des Terreaux. We picked a kabob shop that was nearby with indoor seating and a simple menu offering burgers and fries, among other things. We ended up ordering what looked like pita pockets and John ordered a “taco” which was like a burrito which was pressed in a panini press.
Our pita pockets ended up being made with a bread with a wonderfully crunchy outside and hearty inside, unlike the pita’s we have back in the US. The French do know their bread! The kabob meat was tasty, plentiful and served with plenty of fresh lettuce, tomatoes and tzatziki sauce. And served with French Fries on the side with a can of Orangina. Thus refreshed, we returned to the museum and began attacking the upper floors with more antiquities, and paintings.
The museum has a broad selection of artifacts including their share of Egyptian and Roman antiquities, religious artifacts and paintings spanning the 1500’s to modern times. There was even a gallery of contemporary ceramics with some very interesting pieces mimicking natural processes.
There was a gallery with contemporary modern abstract art and their collection also includes a Picasso. There were also plenty of renaissance works, and a small collection of impressionist and post impressionist modern works. There was a small display of art nouveau furniture that was interesting as well.
We ended up rushing through the last several galleries of paintings as time ran out, and we were literally chased out of the museum at closing time. Ben and John had tried to wait for Janet at the courtyard, but got chased out the front gate by security. When they got out in front of the museum, there was still no sign of Janet anywhere near the front of the museum. Eventually, Janet got kicked out a side door near the front entry and we walked back to the apartment and rested up a bit.
Eventually we got hungry and headed back to the Bellecour neighborhood to find somewhere to eat. We showed John the statue of Antoine de Saint Exupéry and we also walked to the Rhône where we could see the Viking River Cruise ship tied up a little further downstream past another bridge.
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We ended up dining at another Chabert et Fils restaurant, but instead of doing the Bouchon menu, we just ordered some mains a la carte. John ordered the fish dumpling, Ben the hot sausage with potato and Janet the chicken fricassee which was stewed chicken leg in cream with rice.
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Tomorrow evening, Ciara will be arriving from Paris. She arrived there around 4pm today and did a whirlwind tour that we’ll be looking forward to hearing about tomorrow. Hopefully she’ll get caught up on some sleep on the train tomorrow.
