Marie drove me to Dieppe this morning, where I'm sitting now in the tourist office, laptop on my lap. Normandy is gorgeous, but first I want to finish showing you Lyon.
GETTING AROUND IN LYON:
Lyon is a big city!
The subway system runs automatically by computer; there are no drivers or conductors.
Lyon is a very hilly city. Several times, we took a funicular up to the top of a hill. This is not just for tourists, it's commuter transit.
The funicular moves on a cable:
Lyon also has a tramway which runs on tracks on the street.
This bridge over the Rhône River is strictly for the tramway, for pedestrians, and for bicyclists:
Ho! A bicyclist came by just to illustrate this point!
Lyon also has a commuter boat!
Your ride on this boat is free if you have a receipt showing you purchased something at the nearby shopping center.
Walking, of course, is always the best mode of transport. As Pierre experienced elsewhere a few weeks ago, France has a network of hiking trails. Here, near Lyon, is one of them:
THE CONFLUENCE:
Two rivers meet in Lyon — the Saône and the Rhône. The Saône is a riviere, which means that it flows into another river. The Rhône is a fleuve, which means it flows into the sea.
In the photo below, we are facing south, toward the Mediterranean Sea. The Rhône is on the left, and the Saône is on the right.
There used to be a railroad leading down to the very point of the confluence so that factories could load their goods onto ships. Just a remnant of the rails remains.
We dipped our fingers into both rivers here and discovered that the Saône is warmer than the Rhône.
Le Musée des Confluences!
The architecture reminds me just a little bit of Calatrava's Milwaukee Art Museum.
There's a delightful café inside the museum. We stopped there for a light lunch. Which soda would you choose?
(We just had water.)
Outside the museum is this cute advertisement for the city: ONLYLYON. Almost a palindrome!
We took a little walk along the Saône, where there are many houseboats — péniches. Here's just one:
And interesting commercial architecture! The green building below houses EuroNews — a television company.
My times' up! Haven't finished! There will be a "Lyon, Part 5" but I don't know when.
Cool architecture from an American perspective. I liked reading the word "confluence". Anne is curious to try one of those sodas...even though she doesn't drink soda. Today the heat index was 108 F when I looked at 4 pm, and then at 6 pm the skies broke and there are flash floods from a constant rain. Just a snippet of life back here at Troy Gardens Co-housing, Madison, WI USA. :)
ReplyDeleteThat museum does look a bit like the one in Milwaukee. Great system of public transport! What we lack in the U.P.
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