France - Day 6 - Lyon and Travel to Paris

Rise and Shine!  We only have 1/2 a day left here and so much still to do.  We are packed and ready to go around noon, but for now -- it's straight to the funicular and up to Fourviere Hill.

Crossing the bridge first thing is wonderful.  Look around.  Do you see anyone?  For a city of 400,000 people it never feels crowded at all.  I simply adore it here.

The funicular will take us most of the way up but we have just been informed that it is not working for the second half and we need to find a bus up there.  No worries, we can do this.

As we thought, a bus picks us up right outside the station and drops us literally right in front of the Notre-Dame Basilica.  The funicular exit that we would have taken is just right outside the gate and your view is full right away.  No long shots here.

A walk around to the side shows the view of Lyon in the morning light --- not the best, mind you.  The bridge right below is where we crossed and our room is just behind those trees on the other side.  Theoretically Mont Blanc is in the distance but today is obviously  not clear enough to see it.

In 1870 the bishop of Lyon wanted to build a magnificent tribute to the Virgin Mary if the Prussians would only spare the city.  The building began in 1872 and was ready for worship by 1914 and the beginning of World War I.

The plaza in front hosts a statue of Pope John Paul II.  For some reason, my new grandson comes to mind.

Moving inside, ornate is a great word to describe.  The colors are big and bold after all these years.

A step outside and an upward glance is as close to the golden statue of the Virgin Mary as we are going to get.

As I return back inside, Mister is lighting a candle and we are about to walk back down the hill.

Just as we leave, the bells start ringing.  Ahhh, this is our 3rd such moment on this trip and I do feel lucky to say the least.  We have not planned a single opportunity  like this.  They just seem to be working out our way.

Now, it's down the hill for a walk.  We are off to the Roman Theaters and Museum and only have a short walk to go before it is just right there.  Oh my.  These are way cool.  The museum is not open yet, as we are pretty early today, but it is not required to enter the museum in order to experience the theaters.  There is a "big" theater in the foreground with a smaller one in the back to the left.  The large one was built by Emperor Augustus (think Julius Caeser) during his reign from 29 b.c. - 14 a.d.  Think about that for a minute.  I'll let you.

It held 10,000 spectators at the time and now seats 3, 000 for concerts.  Yes, not all is still intact.  The smaller theater in the back was designed for acoustics and used for speeches and songs.

A glimpse at the rest of the grounds shows just how high above the city we still are.  Throughout the grounds are gravestones and sarcophagi.

A walk down puts me right into the midst of it all and shows the detail used in even building the walls.

I do love history and this is it at it's best.  I'm standing where people over 2,000 years ago gathered for events.  Wow. 

The remains of beautiful columns are still in place here.  The work on them is incredible and even I can tell that various stones were used to create them.  I have to stand in awe that something that old is still standing.  We have current buildings that are falling apart.  It's just simply awesome.   I know, that word is overused a lot, but it is very appropo here.

Ah, it looks like Mister has caught up to me.  For some reason he seems so small in this grand arena.

As we exit the grounds at the lower level, an ancient road between the Roman Theaters leads us down and out - almost straight to another funicular station.  Perfect.

Silly Mister, fun play with vegetation.  I believe he did this in Oregon too.

Our day is almost at an end but we have just enough time for one more place.  My sweetheart suggests we try once again to see the Museum of Textiles and so off we go -- almost at a trot as we are definitely cutting it close now.  We will have only a little over an hour to spend there.  Again, this area deserves a post of it's own and here is your LINK directly to it.  It is definitely worth a peek if you are at all interested in silk.

One sample as a tease:

And a very old Jacquard Machine as another.

And that's it.  It's time to return to the room, grab everything and head to the train station.  Along the way, I spot a small market and step inside to grab some food for the train.  Now, this is a cool little "supermarket."  I say that in jest cos this is the largest we have seen this trip.

As I am looking for my sweetie roaming the small aisles, I come upon one endcap that I must photo for a friend back home.  Thus, Lori, this is for you.

Bags in hand, we arrive at the train station to find that the seating area has been closed off and I'm pretty sure we don't want to argue about it.

A quick look at the board tells us they are announcing about 20 minutes out so we have about 20 extra minutes to kill.  Back outside we go.  There is work going on at this station so the outside is hard to enjoy but we find a spot in the shade and are treated to an all out battle for territory by the local beggars.  I have to tell you, it is quite entertaining and passes the time quickly.  They are ferocious.

Finally, our train is called and we are heading for the track.  One would think with all those guards around that we would have tight security, but no -- not a single check and out onto the track we go.  We are boarding at W.  Actually there are TWO trains departing for Paris at the exact same time, on the same track.  One has come in, but where is ours?

More security arrives about the same time our train does.  We never really know what it is all about but our train arrives and the boarding is smooth and without incident.

Sitting back -- the French countryside once again comes into view.

It's a quick trip of less than 2 1/2 hours and Mister tries to take advantage of it.  I, on the other hand, simply can't.  I don't want to miss even a single minute of this.  I have waited a lifetime to be here.

As we pull into the train station, I can see that my sweetheart is disappointed as it is not how he remembers it.   I feel for him, but time moves on and just as I am saying that, we turn a corner and a smile plasters across his face.  YES! This is what he remembers.

As soon as we are in the terminal, he feels as though he has grounded again.  He now knows where he is and gets his bearings.  I was never really worried to begin with --- silly me.

I have my foot in Paris.  At long last.  As I step outside the station, I'm a bit disappointed that I can't get a picture of the whole thing.  Way too much other stuff in the way.

I still give it the old college try, though.  Moving all the way across the front plaza, one corner just might yield up a couple pictures of the top.  I'm pretty sure my sweetheart is watching in amusement now.

Now, to find the metro.  We ask and are told simply, "outside."  Brusquely, in fact.  Well, I WAS warned about Parisians.

Back outside it seems as though we have to totally cross the plaza and then find the stop.  Okay, that's different from all other stations, but once we discover what is going on, it's a simple matter of following the suitcases.

Into the metro we go and a quick map shows how to get to our temporary home while here.  Dropping the bags is first on our list.

This particular subway is unique indeed.  Look at the picture on the right.  There is a full line of doors between the people and the trains.  I have never seen that anywhere before.  No running to catch a train here.

Once on the train --- it is indeed a long train and as it straightens out, we can see clear to the end.  Cool.  As we exit, a beautiful mural greets us.  I love it!

We have made it to the apartment.  Nice.  It feels so good to drop the bags, repack the backpack and settle in for an afternoon/evening of wandering.  We really don't have anything on our list tonight except the Eiffel Tower so it should be smooth sailing.

Back to the metro we go.  Mister's destination is the Trocador stop on the metro.  As we come up to ground level once again.  I turn around and there she is.  Ahhhhh, my heart almost stops.

From this point we start the walk down to her.  It takes awhile and we have to go through security, but we manage to get under one half.

The option is here to stand in line for a couple of hours to ride up, or we can walk up, but neither is really that important to me.  I'm good with just being here and seeing it in person.  What I don't like is the atmosphere around it.  Hawkers everywhere and long lines for everything.  Yuck.  I just wanted to relax and enjoy her beauty.

As we walk back towards the city, interesting plazas show up everywhere.

And statues.

Finally, our wandering comes to a halt and we settle in for some dinner - Italian in France.  Yeah, that makes sense.  My sweetie is really not feeling well yet, so it gets cut short and an early bed time seems in order.  We'll see ya tomorrow and hit Paris hard.