Sunday, September 6, A Lot of Walking Around Lyon

LWell, as of today, we have seen the sights in the Old Town and also the sights on the hill area west of the Old Town, known as Fourevrie, so our plan today is to explore the area known as the peninsula ("Presque'Isle in French) and north of that, which is uphill and sometimes called the Plateau.  A little background:  Lyon lies at the confluence of the Saone River and the Rhone River, which, when they meet, then just becomes the Rhone River at that point.  Both come down in a southward direction and then meet here in Lyon.  Thus, there is a large portion of the city that lies between the two rivers (Saone to the west and Rhone to the east), thus forming a peninsula.  It is almost like a little Manhattan as it comes to a point in the south where the two rivers meet (like the Hudson and the East Rivers in New York).  Our hotel, The Carlton, is on this peninsula, as is the main shopping district of Lyon.  Our hotel is kind of in the middle so we began our day by exploring the area to the south.  We walked first west to the bank of the Saone River and admired the view (up the hill) of the Basilica that we visited yesterday.  Today is a crisp, clear day.  It is a little on the cool side, probably under 70 degrees at this point, but very comfortable and nice.  The views are better given the lack of clouds.  Here is a shot I took of the Basilica (it is a little blurry since I had to zoom):

Our walk took us through many charming squares and sites.  Since it is Sunday, everything was shut down, but there were quite a few people out and about.  Yesterday, we encountered a lovely and extensive farmers' market on the banks of the Saone, and it was also set up again today.

We walked into the peninsula from the river to the Place des Celestins, a lovely small square where there is the lovely and impressive Theater des Celestins (FYI there are a LOT of theaters of all sizes in Lyon it seems).  Then we walked a little to the south to the Place Bellecour, this is known as Europe's largest public square that is only for pedestrians (although we did notice a few cars around, just sayin').  It is not the largest public square in Europe, though, if one takes into account cars.  Very large with stately buildings around it.  We walk toward the southwest corner since the guidebook tells us that there is a statue of Antoine de Saint Exupery, the author of the famous French children's book called "Le Petit Prince" (The Little Prince).  Everyone who ever studied French has surely read it.  It is not obvious where the statue is, but finally I spy it and zoom my camera for a close up:

There is the author, dressed as an aviator (since he was also that) with a statue of the little prince standing behind him.  Rob and I are amused at the sight of yet another French person walking through the park with their dog off the leash.  Somehow, the French have mastered dog training to the point where their dogs just follow them around, not needing a leash.  We have witnessed this quite a bit in the past few days.  However, this dog is a beagle.  The woman walked along nonchalantly assuming that her dog was near her heels when, as is typical of beagles, he had a mind of his own.  After going about one city block, she turned around before crossing the street, and he was nowhere in sight.  Finally, she called and he came into view; she saw him and told him to come, but he just stood there (half a block away) and took his time deciding whether to obey (while she continued to call).  Finally, he obeyed, but then he was back on the leash (where he should have been all along, in our opinion!).

We walked further south, passing a church that is nice, but surrounded by people as Sunday Mass is just letting out.  Obviously, we did not go in.  Then we turned to head back north to Place Belllecour.  This whole neighborhood down here is very nice.  If you weren't paying attention, you might think you were on New York's Upper East Side.  That is how it felt to us as we were strolling around.  Back at Place Bellecour, we admired the Clocher, an old clock tower that is all that remains of an important hospital that once stood on this sight.  Towards the river there is a giant bouquet of flowers statue that I took a picture of:

That is the clock tower to the right, and up on the hill way in the background (across the River Saone) is the Basilica.

Just to the north of this area is another narrow pedestrian street named Rue Marrioniers that is a "restaurant row."  We walked up here, and it was just after noon.  We stop at one place called A la Peche aux Moules that features seafood and has a lighter menu.    Rob had a Salade Nicoise, and I had a Tartine Lyonaise, which is an open face sandwich, consisting of toasted bread, melted cheese, French bacon bits (lardons) and a poached egg -- very tasty, but probably not too healthy.  At least it came with a side of salad!  

Just to east is the Rhone River, so we walked over there and crossed a bridge to admire the view.  On the other side of the river is a huge riverbank with wide walking/running paths and even a gigantic outdoor swimming pool.  From the side of the river, we were able to look back and admire the building known as the Hotel-Dieu.  This building is an old hospital, long abandoned, but about to be renovated into a Hotel Intercontinental.  It is impressive, so large even the hotel won't occupy the entire building.  Here is the photo that I took:

We then walked farther north, passing our hotel and up the pedestrian shopping street named Rue to la Republique.  It terminates at Lyon's opera house on one side and the Hotel de Ville (city hall) on the other.  The Hotel de Ville is huge so we walk around it to the Place des Terraux, where the face of the building actually is.  Here is the picture I took:

Very impressive building!

Then we began our walking tour of the area to the north of what is known as the Plateau, which necessitates quite a bit of climbing!  Many of the streets are actually staircases, some of which are quite grand.  This area is known for its history as the center of textile making, particularly silk.  We pass one building highlighted on the walking guide as an old silk factory, called Condition Publique des Soies (soie means silk), which is now a library.  We made a few wrong turns, but ultimately ended up at the top of a large staircase called the Montee de la Grand-Cote.  This location offers a lovely view south to the city center:

From here we continued on up to the neighborhood called Croix-Rousse.  This is a newer neighborhood, but pretty lively on a Sunday afternoon with many cafes and lot of young people.  We decided to continue into this neighborhood to find a mural painted on a building which is a prominent feature of Lyon we understand.  When we find it, we are impressed.  It is actually the largest mural in all of Europe and was originally painted in 1987.  It was repainted/updated in 1997 and again in 2013.  Posters nearby show all three versions.  The mural was intended to cover up an ugly building and now is a beautiful thing!  Here is my photo, which doesn't really do it justice:

It is supposed to be a representation of life in this neighborhood.  A close up of the steps just might reveal a surprising new member of the neighborhood!

Who is that on the steps?

And I usually do NOT approve of graffitti, but a portion of the mural (near the street, of course) has been vandalized and it made me laugh!   A woman is painted offering an ice cream cone to a child watching a puppet show, but the ice cream cone has been turned into a giant cigarette butt!  The words are added to have the woman saying to the child, "Fume Petit," which means, "Smoke, Little One."

We continued to explore the neighborhood a little bit, then returned to the viewpoint and walked down the steps previously cited.  On our way back to the city center, we detoured to admire some Roman ruins of an old theater, then continued on to see a site called Maison Brunet.  When we got there, we wondered, why are we supposed to look at this (seemingly unexceptional) apartment building?  Finally we spied a historic marker.  This building was built in 1825 to house textile workers and is typical of their housing.  It also has the distinction of being designed with 365 windows, 52 apartments, and 4 entrances -- kind of clever!

We then walked to two other recommended sites, the art nouveau theater called Salle Rameau and the adjacent school called La Martiniere des Jeunes Filles (a girl's school).  Both are lovely architecture.  Near to these sites, we stumblee on another enormous mural, this one not included in any guidebooks. It is a representation of an apartment building with famous people from Lyon's history painted into the balconies.  Some of these include Verrazano the discoverer of New York harbor and, of course, Antoine de Saint-Exupery.  Here are my photos:

From here we were on the banks of the Saone River, so we strolled along the river back to the city center.

We stopped again at the cafe Diplomatico for a glass of Chablis (it is now about 5pm).  Then we returned to our hotel for a rest before dinner.  Dinner tonight is just around the corner at a steakhouse called Le Centre.  We had a lovely wine from St. Emilion:

For food, we started with salads (which required special ordering that our waiter did not especially like) and chateaubriand (which is a fancy French word for filet mignon).  It was a very nice meal.  Time to turn in and watch a little US Open tennis on TV (Ken Neal -- we know you're watching this, too!).  We're six hours ahead of New York time, so at this late hour we're watching the afternoon matches.