20240610 Monday, June 10, 2024; Lyon in a Day
Today started off with a Birthday Bakewell pie for John and a belated Birthday Bakewell pie for Ciara. We had been toting these in our luggage, carefully packaged, and they made it to today in mint condition. The Bakewell pies are filled with almond paste, so they are very rich. It’s a good thing we didn’t get larger ones.
Ciara’s fiancee’s family arrived mid morning so we stashed their suitcases in our room and began a whirlwind tour of Lyon with them. The tour began with a southern leg to see the fountain at place des Jacobins and the statue of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in place Bellecour.
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Then we headed across the passerelle Saint-George and wandered through the south half of old Lyon, encountering a group off a Viking River cruise.
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New for us was a trip on the funicular up to the Basilique Notre Dame de Fourvière at the top of the hill. The funiculars run in pairs along a single track with a bypass in the middle connected by a common cable so as one goes up the other goes down. They run most of their journey through pitch dark tunnels.
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The station at the top deposited us right on the front steps of the Basilique, which was built in 1896. We toured the Basilica upstairs, as well as the crypt below, which was deceptively large and cavernous.
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This Basilica has huge murals depicting historical scenes including one with Joan of Arc riding through a city on a horse. The downstairs crypt had an interesting array of depictions of Mary from many different cultures including a black African, Chinese, and Filipino depictions.
We had sandwiches for lunch at the cafe associated with the Basilica and took in the views before checking out the nearby Tour Métallique and then the ancient Roman amphitheaters.
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We found a mechanical clock at the Gadagne museum which strikes each quarter. A man emerged from a door at the top like a cuckoo clock to blow a bugle and a series of puppets in the main compartment rang a few bells to announce the hour. It was a bit underwhelming for the small crowd that had gathered to watch.
The next leg of the tour headed through the streets of north old Lyon and then across the St. Vincent pedestrian suspension bridge into the Croix-Rousse neighborhood where we visited the “rescue des Lyonnais Cèlébres,
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and then up the hill to le Mur des Canuts, which we hadn’t seen before, but which Ciara really wanted to see. It was about a mile hike up the hill, but proved worthwhile. There was a display of how the mural has evolved over the years. It was first painted in the 1980’s but has been repainted a couple of times over the years reflecting some changes to the neighborhood and culture. From there, we headed to the east end of the Croix-Rousse for a view of Lyon Part Dieux, on the plains east of the Rhône. From there it was down the hill to the now infamous Cour de Voraces et traboule that Janet and I had stumbled upon earlier.
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This time, knowing what they were, it was a lot less scary, and we were able to follow a series of traboules down to the place de Terreaux where we got group pictures with the Opera House, City Hall and the Bartholdi fountain.
We took a brief rest stop in the sculpture garden in the Beaux Arts Museum before making a bee line back to the hotel so that Tom’s family could get formally checked into their hotel room and bags moved in.
John had tried to get dinner reservations at the Bouchon Chabert et Fils in Old Lyon but was unable to make one for a party of eight so he called some other nearby Bouchon Lyonaisse restaurants and was able to make reservations at L’Auberge des Canuts, on the square of the Lyon Cathedral, so we headed over there for dinner. Ciara started 2 loads of laundry, but it takes the European combo washer/dryer a really long time to do a wash and dry cycle (over 4 hours) so she hung back a little to switch the wash to dry cycle. She was able to join us before they were ready to take our orders.
There was some misunderstanding regarding the terms Bouchon Lyonnaise because we were expecting another all you can eat fixed price feast like what Janet and I had on our first night in Lyon at Chez Chabert around the corner. But this place did not have an all you can eat style menu. Instead, it was a fixed price for appetizer, main and dessert with an optional cheese course for extra. They also had an a la carte menu which was a bit more expensive. All the fixed menu prices were significantly higher than Chez Chabert’s 29€ for all you can eat, so that probably explains why that place was sold out.
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This place had the same dishes, but the quality and quantity were both lower than either Chez Chabert’s or the La Mère Maquerelle where we dined last night. But they did seat our party of eight and the food was OK. We just wouldn’t recommend it to others in the future. It would be worthwhile to call to make reservations at Chez Chabert’s a day in advance.
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After dinner the kids walked around for a bit to see the city after dark while we headed straight back to the hotel to get the second load of laundry started. We encountered a racket in the street as we approached the hotel and just missed a group of protesters chanting and heading towards city hall. Apparently they were a mix of people upset about yesterday’s EU elections which were carried by the far right candidates and the Gaza war. There was loud chanting, but no violence. We did pass some police standing by the entrance to the pedestrian suspension bridge, but they were just assuming a non-threatening standby stance. We just thought they were just keeping us tourists safe.
Tomorrow, everyone packs out and heads in different directions. The kids want to see a few more sights, but since Janet and I have been here nearly a week, we’re just ready to begin our trip home, and plan on sleeping in and heading to the train station a bit early.
