Let's revive this blog and go to Lyon

Let's revive this blog :-)   and although we have more lovely photos of Nancy to show you - we'll restart with the train trip from Nancy to Lyon ... train travel in France is just so fast and efficient!

Whoa!  those trees are just flashing by!!

Audrey: "In Lyon we had a Room with a View,  of the Celestins Theatre and,  on top of the hill, a princess's castle."
Lillian: "umm - Actually, that is a cathedral.  The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière."

"Is that Cathedral following us?"

Audrey: "But we weren't going to stay in the hotel room when there was a whole new city to explore. 

Lyon is built where 2 rivers bump into each other.  They are the Rhône and the Saône, but don't ask us how to pronounce those names because we got all confused.

Here we are by the side of the Saône."  






Lillian: "It was a lovely day withe the sunshine making twinkles on the river.  The bridge in this photo is the Pont Bonapart."

 Lillian: "Our daddy Giant likes tugs and barges - this photo is for him.  A barge full of sand under the elegant Pont Maréchal Juin." 

We all love the slightly unexpected things you see on these working barges - cars, motorbikes, excavator / shovels ...







Lillian:  "Lyon is the 2nd largest city in France and has a very interesting history.  It has always been an important place for trade - being at the meeting of those 2 rivers.  The Romans built Lugdunum there and it was the most important city in north-western Europe for quite a while.  During the Renaissance, Lyon became an important place for printing and publishing - and in 1466 Louis XI set up a silk weaving industry in Lyon.

Audrey:  "He brought in some weavers from Florence - and they all lived and worked in the marvelous old part of Lyon - Vieux-Lyon.  We explored this amazing area a little on our first day." 

Lillian:  "And we will show you lots of Vieux-Lyon in a future post but here are some glimpses.  

It is a very densely built-up area on the side of the hill ..."



  


Audrey:  "So there are lots of stairs and even a Funny Peculiar."

Lillian:  "She means a funicular."

Lillian:  "In our next post we will show you some of the Musée Gadagne - which is in Vieux-Lyon.  But for now we will leave you with the setting sun on the Passerelle Paul Couturier ...

 Because it was then back to our room where we settled into the lovely writing desk ... so nice of the hotel to provide us with a dolly bed."