Day 9 - 21st October - Lyon
I woke up really early for Mass.
Tricolour scaffolding
The Lyon funicular has been in operation sine 1862!
The metro is more user-friendly than in Paris. There're lifts so you don't need to walk so much (including for transfers). Of course it's newer (1978 vs 1900) and has fewer lines (4 vs 16).
"You have your feet in the city and your head in the mountains" (skiing ad)
"Lea has everything to succeed, parents who help her, an office, books, in short everything. Everything except self-confidence"
This is an ad for Acadomia, which seems to be an educational institution
I went for Mass at the basilica - whose interior was open (unlike in January 2012, when I'd last been in Lyon). However works were still underway.
Altar
Mass was quite interesting. There was no choir, but a guy at the mic conducted the congregation. At the start there were 30-40 people and we ended with 60-70. The sermon was conducted by a priest from Mozambique.
I asked someone about the relationship of the basilica with the Chinese language, and was told one priest went to China a lot and many Chinese-speaking students were in Lyon.
Beside basilica
Front of basilica
Statue of John-Paul II (2011 - the 25th anniversary of his voyage), with words
View of Lyon from hill
Side chapel
Porch
Door
I happen to have captured here an interesting couple - a mother and her child. She was Taiwanese, but had lived in America for many years. IIRC her husband was French, and their son was studying here. We were speaking in Mandarin, and I kept having the urge to go "oui".
"Near the ancient sanctuary where Popes, Kings and Mobs came to pray the City of Lyon loyal to its vows of 1870 elevated this basilica to she who protected it from invasion"
From Wikipedia: "During the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1), Prussian forces, having taken Paris, were progressing south towards Lyon. Their halt and retreat were, once again, attributed by the Church to the intercession of the Virgin Mary."
Targeted donations - you can donate for religious expenses or the upkeep of the basilica. I really like this concept.
Materials in Mandarin
Notice also the Arabic at the side
As you can see the work was quite major
Murals
Stained glass
Altar
Stained Glass
More Murals
Chapel mural with crouching lion
Girl guides (?)
Scouts (?)
Cute boy with wolf/dog standard
Bells
Pedophile taking pictures of children
Basically the boys were invading the cathedral while the girls stoned.
Children on steps
ATM outside the church. No longer can "I don't have any money" be a reason not to donate!
St Thomas of Canterbury Chapel
"St Michael: the battle of angels"
Unfortunately I didn't have time for this exhibition
Map of hill
I had limited time so I popped into the Roman museum, which I had had to miss the last time I was in Lyon. Before I left I popped my head into the basilica. The 930am mass had 90-100 people. The attendant said the 11am would've even more.
Right outside the museum were a well-preserved Odeon and Theatre.
Theatre
Stage
Odeon stage, on Odeon (for music/rhetoric)
On the Bernard Zehrfuss Museum's design, "A model of integration with the site"
Indeed, the museum is rather inconspicuous
On the theatre acoustics
Path to museum
Due to a special event (digital "remixing"), entry was free!
Even more amazing, the drinks machine dispensed €0,40 drinks (even cheaper than the Rambouillet school). Notice the only tea is mint tea.
Triumph of Bacchus
Roman Legionaries
Winged Victory
Amusingly the English translation is "Winged Victoria"
Cool fact I learned from the History Extra podcast: the name "Victoria" was created for Queen Victoria, an anglicisation of her mother's name "Victoire"
Priest offering incense
Thracian Gladiator
Claudian Table
Emile Zola and Martin Luther King (they forgot the "Jr") superimposed above a Latin inscription (part of the digital remix - integrating digital additions into the normal exhibition)
I asked the guy at the computer console what this meant and he didn't know. He said to ask the boss - he was just a technician.
Other elements of the digital remix included video clips (e.g. of period films) projected in between items in the exhibition.
Epitaph
Dionysian Sarcophagus
Emperor Caracalla
Gallic Chieftain
The Roman Army in Action
Coat of Mail
Sword
Military certificate in bronze
Religions
Matres. These are "female deities venerated in North-West Europe from the 1st to the 5th century AD".
God from Coligny
Trifrons
Gallic God's Head
Suovetaurilia
Tutela ("a town-protecting deity")
Bacchus Mosaic
Jupiter head
Various statues
Bacchus, Silene
Eastern Gods
Mithras Bas Relief
Bull's Leg
Roman Globalisation: Marble used in the Theatres of Lyon came from all over the Empire. Well, mostly Greater Greece
Marble
View out the windows at the theatres
On the Theatre and Odeon
Roman Theatre Technology
Hippodrome (they haven't found the site yet)
"Help us to protect the mosaic. Don't let your machines run on it"
???
Your guess is as good as mine
Circus Mosaic
Chariots at Full Speed
Chariot and Horseman Pottery
Potter's Kiln
World of the Artisan
Octagon Mosaics
Xenia Wall Painting
Special Effects in the Past
The former movie: The Giant of Thessaly (1960)
All Roads Lead to Lyon
Fish Mosaic
Funerary Meal
Wrestling, Hunting Cupids
Eros and Pan's fight
Bacchus-Dionysius/The Indian
Bronze Hand
Epitaph of Appia Zoe
Strigil Sarcophagus
Mask
Larva
Altar with Child's Bust
These should be proto-Christian grave stones
The Emergence of Christianity
Barabbas
Geena hard at work with their digital remixes
Poster for "Peplum" special exhibition (?)
Gender-based violence: we have "The Barbarians explained to my son" and "The Gauls explained to my daughter"
Obviously there is great sexism in how the historical representations are gendered and opposed as a strict binary
There was a free audioguide, but I had no time to profit from it - I only had about an hour for the museum, as I had to meet a friend. In the end we had to reschedule as his train was delayed by floods, grr.
I bought a book from the museum and was asked my country. When I said Singapore, he thought it was a city and asked if it was in China. Gah.
There was a place selling "Chocosuisse" (I think the photo was taken on my phone, so I've lost it). It was like an elongated pain au chocolat with custard.
A bottled drink was €3 at "Pains à la ligne" (a shop) but €2 at a nearby vending machine. It is easy to profit from laziness.
I asked directions from a guy on the street, as to where the river (rivière) was. I walked 20 minutes in the direction indicated and thought something was off: it shouldn't have taken so long. So I looked at the map at a bus stop, and it turned out I was walking in the wrong direction - south of Lyon Part-Dieu, towards a cemetery (cimetière). Grr.
I got directions from someone else on the road and he walked with me into the train station and even asked me my name, and where Singapore was (it was like an MCQ - he first guessed China, then Japan, then Korea). Ahh, this is why Paris suck in comparison to the rest of France!
I saw a sign on a sanitary pad bin about not throwing diapers in (again, I think the photo was on my phone). Apparently it is common to throw diapers inside sanitary pad bins.
Wellness shop. Aka shop to con women of their money.
As I was taking this picture one guy shouted "houri" (?) from a car as he passed. This was either a random weird exclamation or a racist slur. I've no idea which.
Lafayette Bridge, detail
View of other bridge
24 hour pharmacy. I think this was the first 24/7 place I'd seen in Europe.
Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Slipissimo - male lingerie shop
The male lingerie was quite disappointing
River view
Note the carpark hidden under the sidewalk
This was near Rue de la Baleine
Dinner was once again at L'Amphityron.
Soup and starter (cold cuts, lard and Kir). Sadly the bread wasn't crusty. Actually with this being my second visit I thought the place was overrated.
Onion soup detail. I chose a light starter as I'd had a Subway at 3+pm (I'd met someone else). It was quite lacking.
This looks like a salad but really it's a Cochonaille Chaude (pot au feu de cochon) - a pork pot
This was like choucroute garnie in a stew, where the sauerkraut was replaced by pickles. As such it was a bit bland. It was still better than choucroute garnie though.
Extracts from my pork pot
For all I know, this was pig penis, hard centre notwithstanding (they were very busy so I forgot to ask which part of the pig it was)
Cute pig decor
Tartes aux pralines
This was the best dish. It was super nutty - toe-curlingly so. So the meal kept getting better.
Now there was a black assistant in the restaurant, but he couldn't take orders - I was referred back to the white guy. Or presumably the bill.
Keiro Hattori's sketch of the restaurant. Complete with pig customer.
Convivial restaurant scene
French calendar
Obiang T-shirts on Obiang mannikins
The number 69 was prominent
Outdoor dining - it was 19 degrees and they had blazing space heaters. Crazy.
Place du Change
Venice in Lyon
Modern bread place "Bredz". It was 24 hours!
Dolls from Damien Weis, "Best manual worker of France, 2007"
Gaudy shit I didn't expect to see in the Old City. Modern shop in an old shell.
Granite. I don't think I'd had one for 6 years, since I had spent summer in Europe. This was €2, Green Apple. Okay, it was a slurpee, but Granita sounds better.
Vietnamese restaurant Hong-Ha, since 1977. The facade was like that of a French restaurant's. And it was closed on Sundays and Mondays!
15th century house, built by Jean Le Viste (the sponsor of the Lady and the Unicorn)
"Africana Show. Private Club. Law of 1901"
This is a non-profit organisation. It sounds dodgy but I can't find out what it is.
Montee des Chazeaux. I still didn't feel like climbing it.
This was the route to the hostel I'd stayed in in January. Luckily I'd chosen one with a less torturous access route this time.
Spooky Blue Waterfall. C'est quoi ce bordel ?!
Spooky Blue Waterfall
Building Corner
Basilica from below
Cathedral
Fountain detail
Cathedral
Basilica
Machinery of funicular in the past
"In Aeternum Renatus. Geormillet 1991. Pax in Pulchritudine"
Har
Funicular photos
How to prevent robbery (?)
More "wellness"
On doing your will
One disadvantage of travelling alone: since there's no one to make my remarks to, I have to talk to myself.
I saw a shop with a "Hallal" sign outside. Not just was there an alcohol aisle, they had cassoulet and bolognaise sauce with pork.
Rail passes aren't very good value in France. If you buy ahead rail tickets aren't that expensive (it depends on the time also). I spent €58 on my most expensive ticket (Paris-Lyon). A 3 day French rail pass is €164, and all my trips cost €138 in total over 4 days of travelling.