Dimanche le 9 novembre - Lyon day 2

Up and packed again! Luckily the hotel can store our belongings for the day and we don’t have to lug them around!
Another fantastic breakfast to start the day! First stop was to the Pet Market held every Sunday morning – I was dreading what unusual creatures we might find – but predictably it was mainly DOGS! Well puppies to be exact – very, very cute ones! I even found myself inquiring to the price out of interest and even the breed names.
I was put in my place very quickly when the cheapest was €600! Not that I was planning to get one but reality hit home fast. The girls however were full of enthusiasm and cuteness!
We saw only 1 cage load of cats and I forgot to see what the price of those were- can’t decide if they would be cheap because not that common and people don’t want them or if that would make them expensive – or are they give away!
From here we headed up to the Roman Ruins – 44BC or around there the city of Lugdunum was founded. The have been included in the UNESCO World Heritage sites, rather impressive stone structures that held 10000 people for poetry readings and musical recitals. I believe there were also gladiatorial fights as well. It was emotional to sit on the stone stps and think of all the other people who also have sat in the exact spot and how different everyone’s lives are. An architectural masterpiece, I still can’t get that these things are so old and simply hoe they did it without the marvels we know about like cranes etc…

Onto another world heritage site – UNESCO only lists sites, whether manmade or natural places that have an exceptional and universal value. Lyon is so rich in monuments that it deserved to be part of this prestigious group. 500 sites worldwide and 22 are in France. The suburb of Croix Rousse – this is the major area of where the canuts worked and lived. There are heaps of traboules here and I was really looking forward to seeing this area that is a world heritage site. It was like a trail and you looked for the signs and marks on the doors to see if they were traboules or not.
I was so disappointed, it was grubby, covered in graffiti, vandalised and many parts decrepit and unkempt. We went through many passages and they are interesting and have interesting features and architecture but on the whole disappointed. Headed for another part of town and decided to have a quick bite to eat – Subway! Perfect – got a sandwich each - €30!! Dearest sandwich in history – dearer than restaurants – won’t be having that again till back in ALEXANDRA!
Next stop the Printing Museum – Not many places can boast one of these and of course Nev was in his element. It went through the history of print from Papyrus to writing on flax, stone etc until modern day. Even showing examples of bank notes and very early books and all the different machines over time.
Again the museum wound its way up floors and into other rooms and we even found ourselves in an art exhibition that followed on from one of the rooms.
Wandered back towards our hotel crossing over the Rhone river and all the people out strolling along the promenade or biking, rollerblading etc. People sitting on the banks and steps relaxing. A lovely feel about the place. Found ourselves beside a huge group of people and wondered what was happening, still don’t know but as I looked harder they were all older men gathered in groups talking. Strange!
Jumped on a tram for a few blocks to look around and for the girls to experience a modern tram.
Hermione and I waited at the Gare while Nev and Seph went and collected our luggage.
5:00pmTime to board the train – again it was the corail and we were in the compartment carriage – this time we had one to ourselves. It was great we had time before it was dark to look around and we left the lights off and shut the doors and curtains to the corridor and watched the view.
Every stop the girls were anxious we might have to share our compartment – we were fortunate the whole way!
2h30 minutes later we were home!

As much as I enjoyed Lyon, I couldn't live there -nice to visit and would go again but permanent not a chance!