Another Great Day in Lyon, France

This week featured a truly big Travel Tuesday.

We were up at 5:00 a.m. to get ready to hop on the #32 bus to the Thun Bahnhof where we would board a train to Bern where we transferred to a second train bound for Geneva.

Finally, in Geneva we got onto our third and final train of the day headed to Lyon, France. This last train was a French one that both left and arrived on time.

What were the odds at the Montreaux Casino on that?

An ad today in a Swiss newspaper

The best reason for lifting the Cuban embargo!!!

In the Geneva Gare

Still hard to believe that the French train was punctual.

We made it

Apparently the French are

good at making pasteries

I didn't know that.

Laurie auditioning for a

role in the French Cinema

A Romantic Comedy I think

Lyon has a dark side to its history

as this plaque attests

Wild Boar Burgers?

One of the reasons for our stop in Lyon was to visit with my football internet friend, Julien Urgenti, who has been a player and coach with the Bron-Villeurbanne Falcons, an American football team based in a Lyon suburb.

We have been talking football on-line for over a year now and Julien even asked me to write an article on the 3-5-3 defense for his French language football coaching blog. He did the translating I assure you!

I had finally met Julien on my solo trip to Lyon last Easter and we had a great day as he was my personal tour guide of the city and we exchanged several ideas about organizational issues in building a solid EuroBall squad.

Christophe and Julien

We were joined in the early afternoon by Julien and his friend Christophe Thuau who is currently the President of the Falcons.

I say currently because I think he may be Lyon's next mayor. At least he ought to be considering that everywhere we went people stopped to greet Christophe.

That's a lot of votes.

During a nice lunch on a spledid Lyonnaise afternoon, we talked about football, football and then some more about football. Of course, Laurie was right in the middle of things as this was still her element.

Quite a girl if you ask me!

After lunch, Julien and Christophe took us on a tour of Lyon's old city, the Vieux-Lyon which is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

We started at the

Cathédrale Saint-Jean

The Catédrale's wonderful front

These headless saints may have been

French Revolutionary victims

Old . . .

. . . VERY old

Praying for the people of Lyon

A mini-altar in the Cathédrale

Stained glass reflection

Knights Templar Cross?

Every great cathédrale has

an Atomic Clock!

Lyon's Theater

The oldest Pastery shop in Lyon

Pralines Delight

Christophe said that we should try one.

Why not, we had not eaten a dessert in almost 30 minutes.

Besides, "IT WAS SO GOOD FOR ME TOO!!!"

These French bakeries really are good!

The Camino de Santiago

runs through Lyon

A museum dedicated to the

art of making movie sets

Christophe, Julien and Laurie

cruising Vieux-Lyon

We indeed did have

sunshine on our walk

Nice Beard

Even the peeling paint is

artsy in the Vieux-Lyon

Did I mention that it was hot? 

29º C is about 84º F, it was also still a bit humid and it was about 4:00 p.m.

Hey, isn't that Fika Time?

We stopped for more cafe simply because we could. Besides, we had not talked football in over an hour. We discovered that the Falcons have a very strong program going having started last season with nearly 200 players in their program that includes Senior, Junior and Cadet squads! 

Pietas are big in France

Christophe's apartment floor

After a fun five hours, we stopped in to see Christophe's home . . . lovely! It was only a couple of blocks from our hotel in the heart of Lyon.

It was time to bid them both adieu as they both had work and family issues to tend to but we must say a big "MERCI" for all of their kindness in showing us around Lyon and feeding us wonderous local cuisine!

We headed back to the hotel to freshen up a bit and then went out exploring more of Lyon.

Relections, old meets new . . .

. . . Twice!

The Saône River

The Saône River is one of two major waterways that run through Lyon. The other one is the Rhône River.

Basilique Notre-Dame

de Fourviére

It overlooks all of Lyon atop a hill near the Vieux-Lyon. It has lots of fine sculptures.

Like this one

A golden Notre-Dame

Door of the Basilique

Laurie lighting up in the Basilique

Basilique Guard Lion

I like church art . . .

. . . A lot!

The view of Lyon

from the Basilique

We opted to walk back

to the Vieux-Lyon

A tired and hungry lady

but first . . .

Street art . . .

Even more street art . . .

and mysterious passageways

Finally we sat and ate

Christophe had given us a couple of recommendations near our hotel but Laurie was near death from starvation, we hadn't eaten anything in over two hours!

We had an excellent meal in a little sidewalk restaurant in the Vieux-Lyon and it didn't cost and arm and a leg.

Refreshing . . .

As was this view of the

Rhône River on way way home

We had a great day touring France's third largest city, Paris and Marseille are both bigger. We again have to say MERCI to Julien and Christophe for taking the time to make our day!

Wednesday we will board a mid-day, high speed train to the city of Avignon in Provence.

Here we go again!