One more full day in Lyon before we move on.
We walked down to a bus stop just outside the Lyon Perrache station. I couldn’t help but notice the interesting wiring on the outside of the adjacent building while we waited for our bus.
We caught the bus to the Gadagne building, which dates back to the early 1500s, and contains two museums.
Naturally when one catches a bus in France, one should say “merci” to the driver. (Perhaps not with a strong Australian accent.)
Outside the Gadagne building is this very cool clock:
Inside, the first museum, Musée d’histoire de Lyon (Museum of the history of Lyon) was pretty interesting, with displays spread across several levels showing how the city developed.
After you make your way up, you end up near the restaurant. I think we’d had a late start this day, because it was lunchtime, so we decided to try it.
Safe to say it was a cut above the average cafeteria. A tasty two course meal, and they were able to accommodate our vegetarian traveller. Very good.
After that we had a brief look around the Gadagne roof garden – small but a nice spot, particularly when the sun is out.
Then we made our way down, via the Musée des Arts de la Marionnette – a museum of marionnettes. This is smaller, but also very interesting.
After that we went walking the streets looking for more street art. Lyon is known for it, and we were pretty sure there were some more that we hadn’t found.
Along the way some of our party did some clothes shopping, then we made our way to Croix-Paquet and the rack railway again.
After connecting to the Metro, we headed back to the flat, but on the way finally had a good look inside the monastery on the corner.
It was built in the 11th century on the site of an earlier church. At least, it used to be a monastery, until the end of the 17th century. It became a church, and was promoted to a basilica in 1905.
Its name is now the Basilique Saint-Martin-d’Ainay. It was rather stunning inside.
Two more things today:
In the evening I ducked out to a nearby bookshop. I had an idea to help me with my learning of French: given I have read Tintin books since I was a kid, and I know them well, I thought I’d buy one in French to read: “Coke en Stock” (aka “The Red Sea Sharks”). Hardback for €12.50 (A$22.44) seemed like good value. They also had some good Tintin merch, some of which was not so affordable.
Secondly… I received an email: “Suppression de votre train 4657 du 23/10” – uh oh. Suppression? I kept reading.
“supprimé en raison des conditions météorologiques.” / “cancelled due to the weather conditions.”
Oh drat. I spent some time on the web figuring out the options and rebooking for a slower but more direct service.
The next day might not be as smooth as I’d hoped.
