Journal Entry 16--A Day on the Peninsula of Lyon--Thursday, Oct. 30, 2014
Well, look what I found!
Lyon has a culture and a beauty all its own, so I will let our only entire day there speak for itself as I tell what happened and show pictures along the way. I will preface this by saying I was not disappointed, and the love the Lyonnais have for their city, the enjoyment they take in it, were the most like that of Bordeaux of any other place we came to, including Paris.
Days began early, often well before the wake-up call. Before first light, I opened up the curtains and admired the nighttime beauty of the moon over the city and of the church (Eglise Ste. Blandine) below my balcony.
Nighttime view of Eglise Ste. Blandine
The Andrews and Kratovils were down the hall next to me, and they also remarked later how beautiful the view out the window was at night. Breakfast was downstairs in the same dining room where we had eaten the night before. When it was over, I had a little time before the tour began, so I simply walked around the block and discovered to my great surprise that the street behind the hotel was named RUE SMITH!
I was only too glad to share this bit of information with my camarades as we gathered and headed up the Cours Charlemagne. I asked the guide to name the parallel street, and she said something like "Roo Smeeth." Joe chuckled and said he would take my picture in front of the sign when we got back here.
When we reached the Perrache area, Louis said we were going to take the Tram for part of our route. Lyon has an above-ground tram on tracks, in addition to buses, an underground Metro, regular trains, and the TGV.
Lyon Tram
We hopped on the tram and headed north for several blocks, then we exited at a huge, open space called La Place Bellecour. Louis Bideau said it was constructed by order of Louis XIV as a gift to the city of Lyon. A large statue of King Louis sat in the middle of the square, and we walked over to it. The Lyon Tourist Bureau was at the back of the square.
Morning in La Place Bellecour
The Sun King's statue was destroyed during the Revolution and then replaced much later. This is where the guillotine stood during Lyon's Reign of Terror.
Up close to Louis XIV
After a time at Bellecourt, we walked farther north up narrow streets to another square which was smaller and centered by a beautiful fountain. Here at La Place des Jacobins, we paused for pictures and to visit a nearby coffee shop. The buildings here were very interesting, and the narrow streets came together at odd angles, so the structures on them were built accordingly.
La Place des Jacobins
Louis leads us to the fountain.
Refreshing pause at La Place des Jacobins
Yep, I was one of 'em!
Twelve streets came into the "square" at different angles.
Joe returns from coffee.
Now we head farther up the Peninsula.
Even as we left the Square of the Jacobins and walked past countless buildings, I could not help but stop and photograph people walking and the balconies and ironwork. We kept moving at an angle across the Peninsula but in a northerly direction. We passed more interesting buildings and came to the very beautiful Palais de la Bourse, the stock exchange.
Pedicab in front of le Palais de la Bourse
Landmark intersection on Rue de la Polaille (Street of the poultry market)
Then we walked many blocks farther to the courtyard of the Musée des Beaux Arts on our way to the Hotel de Ville de Lyon. The Fine Arts Museum had numerous pieces of impresive sculpture, some by Rodin, in the courtyard, but for some reason, my pictures of them were out of focus. In any event, the museum is one of the best in France, and some of us resolved to return here after lunch.
Musée des Beaux Arts
Here we strolled through the courtyard.
Statue by Rodin
Rodin's Shade
Fountain made from Roman sarcaphogus
We then walked to the nearby Place des Terreaux. This is the scenic square anchored by the dramatic Bartholdi Fountain with its lifelike horses bursting forth from below. Sculptor Auguste Bartholdi designed it when he was twenty-three, long before he sculpted the model for the Statue of Liberty. This square bordered the Hotel de Ville and a large complex of City-of-Lyon offices nearby.
We enter la Place des Terreaux.
The Bartholdi Fountain
Buildings facing la Place des Terreaux
Hotel de Ville de Lyon
Galerie des Terreaux et Lycée de Culture
Later, we walked south to the opposite side of the municipal complex and also viewed the opera house across the square.
East side of City Hall Complex
Lyon Opera House--with tall, modern building behind
Then we proceeded up a very narrow street called Rue Garet. We were headed to the Bouchon le Garet for lunch. That's the type of restaurant featured by Anthony Bourdain in his show on Lyon. Nowadays, some bouchons are private--open to members only--while others operate as commercial restaurants. They evolved from the days when textile workers would come off a night shift and gather with others to eat and drink for hours in lively camaraderie before going home. The food usually consisted of pork and grew from the practice of eating "everything but the oink" (gron in French) in true working-class fashion.
Rue Garet
We went down a narrow street filled with shops and eateries fronted by small, wooden platforms built beyond the curbs--to allow more outdoor seating. Louis said the cafés actually rented that street space from the city.
Arriving at Le Garet, we went across the room to the stairs and up to a large landing with a bench its entire length facing the railing. Tables were set and chairs had their backs to the rail--with just enough space for the serveurs to pass with trays, often carried up from below.
Bouchon Le Garet
Where the tables separate and the bench divides, I sat facing outward.
I will describe this whole session as a unique culinary experience! I ate foods the likes of which I had never had before. Salads made from lentils and tripe and other ingredients were passed around family-style in bowls along with platters of sausages and wieners both spicy and plain. I ate a little of everything along with bread and drank enough wine and water with it that I was stuffed way before the main course, not mention dessert, arrived.
Salad with poached eggs
Early courses (les entrées)
For our main course (le plat principal), we had choices, and I was the only one in the group who ordered l'estomac de vache (cow stomach). I had no idea what to expect, but this was an adventure, and I had to hold up my end. When the dish arrived, it was a breaded, baked square of meat which I found absolutely delicious! If I had not known where it came from, I would have simply considered it a nice, different-tasting square of meat. As it was, I was so full already, I couldn't finish my tasty piece of cow stomach.
L'estomac de vache
Then came dessert. First we were each given clean plates with a black-and-white image of a stylish lady in the middle wearing a wide hat, gloves past her elbows, and absolutely nothing else. Then they put a large, oozing piece of chocolate cake in each plate, and away we went. The cake was delectable, and I finished mine. The resulting view of a clean plate was a mere incidental.
Dessert plates at Le Garet
When time came to leave, I looked at my watch and realized we had been here two-and-a-half hours! The time just slipped by. We now had the afternoon to explore Lyon on our own. Miriam wanted to see the Roman ruins back up on La Fourvière, Chris wanted to visit the Gestapo Headquarters Museum, and most wanted to return to the Musée des Beaux Arts. I was going to the FNAC to buy the DVD of La Guerre des Boutons. Louis had said he'd take me right to it, but when we left Le Garet, he told me something had come up and he could not go there with me. I had a map, and he marked the location; then we walked up the Rue Garet and over to the Rue de la République. He told me how many blocks to go, that I could not miss it, and we all said good-bye.
Everyone then scattered to the four winds. I headed south on the Rue de la République on a Thursday afternoon in Lyon, France! I was concerned about finding what I was looking for, but worries vanished as I headed down this pleasant, pedestrian street filled with people walking "every which-a-way" and exuding a kind of purpose tempered by enjoyment (or vice-versa) that I had not seen since Bordeaux.
Rue de la République
Hotel Carolton on Rue de la République
Fountain on Rue de la République as I approached la FNAC Bellecour
Before very long and after the number of blocks Louis had given, and there was the FNAC! I entered his favorite electronics and book store and asked for les films classiques. The vendeuse directed me to the second floor, so after I distinguished between the up and down escalators, I ascended, turned right, and asked another vendeuse who took me over to the classics section. A short search et voilà--La Guerre des Boutons in several versions, just as Louis had cautioned.
Pedestrian section of Rue de la République ended at La Place Bellecour.
La FNAC Bellecour (book and electronics store)
The War of the Buttons
La Place Bellecour in the afternoon
This square is the heart of the Peninsula.
Then I resumed my trek to the south. A few more blocks, and I found myself at another square with a fountain and Ampère's statue in its midst! Not since physics class at GHS had I thought much about the "father of electrodynamics," and even then I was mainly worried about what an "amp" (a unit of current) was. Well, he was from Lyon, did his work here, and is honored by La Place Ampère. Some rather rough-looking teenage boys were horsing around nearby, but I ignored them and went over to photograph this surprise. The boys stayed to themselves, and soon I was on my way again.
I chose the original film from 1962 and headed to the escalator. Since I include a shot of the cover, I will say that this movie is set in the days when French schools were not yet coeducational, and the schoolboys from two neighboring towns form an intense rivalry. When one side takes a "captive," he receives the ultimate humiliation; all of his buttons are cut off and his shorts fall down because there's nothing for his suspenders to hold onto. Downstairs I headed to check-out. The place was crowded, so I waited in line and used my credit card when I got to the end. It worked, I signed, the clerk sacked my movie and receipt, and I was out the door.
In less than a block, I was again at La Place Bellecour. It struck me as more enjoyable now in the warmer afternoon temperature, and I paused to shoot a few pictures and to enjoy the scene for a while. I even parked myself on a bench and just people-watched.
Au revoir, Place Bellecour.
Statue of Lyon native André-Marie Ampère
A few more blocks, and I came upon La Place Carnot, another expansive square, in front of the Gare Perrache. The station that straddled the Peninsula loomed in the distance. This morning, our docent had criticized the city's planners for budget cuts that altered the building's design during construction--so much so--that it eventually became very pedestrian unfriendly. I was about to see how right she was. Though I searched, I found no way around Perrache, so into it I went. The place was a labyrinth of levels that forced me to retrace my steps several times. At least it did have restrooms! After changing floors repeatedly, I made it to the back of this conglomeration and out the rear at street level--on Cours Charlemagne.
La Place Carnot
La Gare Perrache
If I write "a few blocks farther south" again, readers may groan, but the truth is just that, and I had walked almost the length of the Lyon Péninsule--not bad for a guy who was sick yesterday. Then, there in front of me as I approached the Hotel Charlemagne walked Louis Bideau and a beautiful young woman--"his significant other." This lovely blondish femme and Louis saw me, and he said, "Bonjour, Gordon (stress the second syllable and nasalize the n)," and introduced us without the slightest hesitation. He told me her name, which I promptly forgot, and said she had taken the train over from Grenoble to meet him. I remembered that earlier Louis had said he lived near there.
In the next breath, he told me my clothes had arrived from Chinon and were up in his room--to come there with them. I was so glad to hear this, I shed my own awkwardness and joined them for the ride up. Soon we were in their room, and I saw a bed-full of packages; I was not the only forgetter. He gave me mine, and I looked inside enough to see that my long-lost slacks and shirts were truly there! I told him I had no trouble finding the FNAC or the film I wanted, thanked him, told her how glad I was to meet her, and headed out.
Then back down the elevator of that section, across the central courtyard, and up the quirky elevator I went. Feeling the relief of having my lost clothes BEFORE we left Lyon, I relished the prospect of being able to wear a greater variety of shirts and slacks than I had been able to manage for almost a week.
With the DVD I wanted and having all my clothes back, I was in A REALLY GOOD MOOD! So I took cellphone in hand and went back outside the hotel to shoot a few "selfies"---first of me with the lions by the front door and then of me in front of a RUE SMITH sign behind the block. I also wanted to photograph the playground across the street (la Place Hippodrome) and the church next to it.
Le Lion et Moi
"ROO SMEETH"
Playground beside the hotel
Eglise Ste. Blandine
Flying buttresses (les arcs butants)
Returning to the hotel and with none of our group in evidence, I went back up to the room and SUCCUMBED TO FATIGUE AND SATISFACTION after an outstanding day on the Peninsula of Lyon, France. I had a light meal, bathed, and began to pack for our journey tomorrow through Burgundy and northeast to Alsace. Then I took my meds and turned in for some much-needed sleep. Before I dozed off, I thought of Louis and his girlfriend and hoped she appreciated the diamond ring he bought for her in Bordeaux.
HORS D'OEUVRES: Often, thoughts occur during writing which are not part of the plot in a day of travel. Here are a few spin-offs concerning this blog entry.
(1) I loved Lyon. In Parts Unknown, Anthony Bourdain did not err in featuring it in what I consider the best show he has ever done. In that CNN hour, he dined as a guest in a private bouchon and featured an American chef who came here to visit and had stayed the past five years. I get that!
(2) Writing this blog in English makes it accessible to my family and friends, but it belies that fact that my mindset was much different as the experience unfolded "over there." As a person who has straddled linguistic divides most of his life, I must say that ANOTHER LANGUAGE IS ANOTHER UNIVERSE! La langue française was an essential part of the ambience. I practiced French at every opportunity--to prepare myself for the days in Paris when I would have to survive on my own and when I would need to help the Robinsons.
(3) The acronym FNAC (Fédération Nationale des Achats des Cadres) can sound very funny if one says it with a little Texas oompf; sometimes when I pronounced it, I imagined the way it would come out if Sylvester the Cat said it. Just wait till I get to Reims and give that my comic-nasal best.
(4) I did not like EVERYTHING I ate at Le Garet, but I did try all that was put before me. One way to learn is to experience. I already reported that the "cow stomach" was very good. I think the squeamish responses I get every time I mention it are partly because of the sound of the phrase in English. Estomac de vache may seem more palatable because it lacks some of the ugliness of the English words. (They sound pretty ugly in Spanish, too.) Juliet may have told Romeo, "A rose by any other name doth smell as sweet," but she was attracted to him and feeding him a line. The truth is that a rose (a French word, by the way) would not smell as sweet if we called it a "gaak." The words and the exact sounds of the words make a BIG DIFFERENCE!
(5) Something I did not see was the Musée Lumière. The Lumière brothers lived here and were major motion picture pioneers. Their camera and projectors made film viewable ON A SCREEN for the very first time in the 1890's. Here's to Auguste and Louis! We had our Wright Brothers and the French had their Light Brothers.
(6) No place is perfect. Clearly, I disliked the Parrache Station, but that negative hardly counters the many positives of Lyon. THIS IS ONE OF THE GREAT DESTINATIONS OF THE WORLD!
Fin
HORS D'OEUVRES: Often, thoughts occur during writing which are not part of the plot in a day of travel. Here are a few spin-offs concerning this blog entry.
(1) I loved Lyon. In Parts Unknown, Anthony Bourdain did not err in featuring it in what I consider the best show he has ever done. In that CNN hour, he dined as a guest in a private bouchon and featured an American chef who came here to visit and had stayed the past five years. I get that!
(2) Writing this blog in English makes it accessible to my family and friends, but it belies that fact that my mindset was much different as the experience unfolded "over there." As a person who has straddled linguistic divides most of his life, I must say that ANOTHER LANGUAGE IS ANOTHER UNIVERSE! La langue française was an essential part of the ambience. I practiced French at every opportunity--to prepare myself for the days in Paris when I would have to survive on my own and when I would need to help the Robinsons.
(3) The acronym FNAC (Fédération Nationale des Achats des Cadres) can sound very funny if one says it with a little Texas oompf; sometimes when I pronounced it, I imagined the way it would come out if Sylvester the Cat said it. Just wait till I get to Reims and give that my comic-nasal best.
(4) I did not like EVERYTHING I ate at Le Garet, but I did try all that was put before me. One way to learn is to experience. I already reported that the "cow stomach" was very good. I think the squeamish responses I get every time I mention it are partly because of the sound of the phrase in English. Estomac de vache may seem more palatable because it lacks some of the ugliness of the English words. (They sound pretty ugly in Spanish, too.) Juliet may have told Romeo, "A rose by any other name doth smell as sweet," but she was attracted to him and feeding him a line. The truth is that a rose (a French word, by the way) would not smell as sweet if we called it a "gaak." The words and the exact sounds of the words make a BIG DIFFERENCE!
(5) Something I did not see was the Musée Lumière. The Lumière brothers lived here and were major motion picture pioneers. Their camera and projectors made film viewable ON A SCREEN for the very first time in the 1890's. Here's to Auguste and Louis! We had our Wright Brothers and the French had their Light Brothers.
(6) No place is perfect. Clearly, I disliked the Parrache Station, but that negative hardly counters the many positives of Lyon. THIS IS ONE OF THE GREAT DESTINATIONS OF THE WORLD!
