Lugdunum (Lyon)

We drove to Lyon on April 23rd with Alexandre in his Renault R19. We arrived at my aunt Brigitte’s to a great reception; read: lots of hugs and kisses, jumping up and down and clapping. You’ve got to know my aunt…
Alexandre stayed for the day, so we went into town, and walked around La Rue de la Republique, and Place Bellcour amongst others. Alexandre had a date later that night so he took off in the evening and Sally and I stayed up with Brigitte ‘till the wee hours talking and drinking wine…
The next day we went to my other aunt’s place, Lilliane in the ‘burbs. She has a beautiful home with my other uncle Michel. Though she says she had no food, we ate until we thought we would burst. Then we ate some more. I lost weight in Portugal. Not gonna happen here! My uncle Guy and his daughter Delphine showed up for coffee (café) after lunch, which was nice. Guy looks like my dad with a few extra kilos (as they say here) and a very French mustache :o)
Sally and I went out the next day alone as my aunt was busy. We must have walked 20km that day. We did what the Lyonnaise call “Les S”. It’s a series of switchbacks under an ancient aqueduct right in the city. It’s also a hell of a climb. At the top is the “Jardin des Chartreux” and a stunning view of Lyon. Well worth the effort. Funny thing is; we started the trek in search of water downtown, only to end up miles away sans water and starving...

The next day Alex showed up again. This was great as Sally and I both missed him. Sally gets along great with the family but she’s taken a shine to Alex, and he speaks english so it’s easier for her. On that note though, Sal’s français is getting pretty good. If she stayed here a few months, she’d be rattlin’ off like a pro. With Alex we went up to the Cathedral Fourviere. The quick and dirty of the story goes like this: Back in the day, when I believe what was the plague was approaching Lyon, the people gathered on the big (and at the time empty) hill to pray to the Virgin Mary for protection. They swore that if she protected them from the plague, they would erect a cathedral in her honour. The plague never came, so the cathedral went up. It’s a beautiful work of architecture capped off with a statue of Mary covered in gold! We didn’t get too many pics of the interior as they kicked us out after Sally started playing the bells. Just kidding - they were closing. After that we went into Vieux Lyon (Old Lyon) for a beer. All of Lyon is beautiful, but Vieux Lyon has a little more “je ne sais quoi”...

The next day we returned to Vieux Lyon with Brigitte to see it in the day. We went into St.Jean’s Cathedral where Brigitte showed us the painting in memory of my cousin Tony, (see my last entry). I can only hope that I touch as many lives as he did and leave behind as much love and respect. We went for some heavenly crêpes which we got to watch being made, it was pretty neat. After lunch Brigitte introduced us to real pralines. Sally now has an addiction. I have to keep them away from her. Alexandre went back home to prepare for his exams that night. It’s probably the last time we’ll get to hang out until next year when he hopefully comes to visit. (Provided I’m in Vancouver at that point…).
On Friday we went to Le Palais d’Arts in La Place des Terreaux. La Place des Terreaux has my favourite statue so far. La Fontaine de Bartholdi. It’s a stunning fountain with four horses escaping from it. Drawn by the horses is a Romanesque chariot containing a woman and two children. You have to see it to appreciate it (photo’s coming). The fountain used to be in front of the Hotel de Ville, 90° to the left. About 15 years ago, I think, construction of an underground parking lot began beneath it. As the fountain is so immense, it was moved temporarily as the ground wouldn’t support it. After the construction, it was to be moved back in place but money ran out or it wasn’t willing to be spent. This has pissed off a lot of Lyonaisse as the artist created it with the Hotel de Ville in mind for the backdrop, not some lame apartment complex. When I get back, I’ll Photoshop it back into place to see how it’s supposed to look…

Saturday the 30th of April we went to my aunt Lilliane’s again to stay for the weekend. It was really hot. The thermometer showed 36° in the shade. We hung out and relaxed on the terrace and suntanned. That is of course when Lilliane wasn’t feeding us. She’s quite the cheese connoisseur, so in a country that has more cheeses than days in a year; we tried quite a few great stinky cheeses. Pretty much the stinkier the better ;) Along with the cheese she had a cellar full of great wine as well, so naturally we had to drink them too. We had a nice tan (burn) by that night. The next day was almost as hot except we had a nice cool wind that kept us from knowing when we were burning… Unfortunately the wind brought the rain and since Monday it’s been cloudy / raining. Oh well, I came here for the experience and the family, not the weather.

Lilliane has ADSL, so we were looking forward to finally uploading our pictures of Lyon etc but as life would have it, her PC died the day we got there. Figures. Brigitte has subscribed to ADSL as well but it hasn’t started up yet since she moved on the 4th. Despite many calls, much frustration and many bullshit promises, her ADSL isn’t up either. Listening to her calls to Tele2 reminds me so much of Telus. At least ADSL sucks everywhere. If they get it running before we leave for Paris on Monday I’ll upload the photos…