French Trip, Day 3, Part 1
Aug. 11th, 2007 05:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wiseheartSorry for the long delay. I'm back now.
Our first stop in France was Lyon, where we spent one night in the StarS hotel. And I've just realized that I misled you, folks. The ski lodge wasn't the ship cabin shaped one at all! It was the hotel in Lyon!
In any case, we got up fairly early, packed our things into the bus again and had breakfst in the hotel. Many of the group whined about the absence of ham and sausages and cheese, as French people don't eat those for breakfast as a rule, but Mum and I were happy to have real, honest, down-to-earth French croissants that are seconded by lembas only, and which you can't get anywhere else but France. The fake copies offered every other place just aren't the same.
After breakfast, we went into the city to see the sights. Our first stop was the Bellecour Square, with the statues of Louis XIV and Saint-Exupéry (the father of the Little Prince) on it.
Bellecour Square:
Louis XIV - twice (the figures at his feet symbolize the great rivers of France:
The statue of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Ufortunately, not much of him can be seen here, as I still haven't learned how to zoom. In any case, he's sitting on that column, with the Little Prince standing behind him. I swear.
After that, we made a walk on the bank of the Saone and saw pretty landscapes.
Saone with the church St. George:
Bonaparte Bridge with St. John cathedral:
We then went to see the St. John cathedral, which is a beauty, built during the 10th and 11th centuries. See for yourself:
And yep, that's Mum with the pretty sun-hour...
Leaving the cathedral, our insane guide wanted us to climb up a rather steep hill, upon which the Notre Dame de Fourviere - one of the better known pilgrimage churches of France - stands. Have I already mentioned that at least 70 per cent of the group was beyond 60? Fortunately, someone knew that there was a funiculare up that hill... sort of a mix between an elevator and a tunnel railway. So we took the thing, and even that needed several minutes to get there. And even from the terminus of it, it still took 59 steps tll the gate of the church. (Mum always counts the steps, for reasons of her own...)
I'm very sorry, but I have no pictures about the Fourviere. I found it uly, and at the beginning of the journey I was still bein careful how many photos I took, so that my memory card would last till the end. But if any of you has ever seen pics from the Sacré Coeur in Paris, you know what it looked like. Personally, I hated it.
Also, it's a peculiarity in France that in almost all of their famous historic buildings there are automats where you can buy gilded medals with the picture of the building on it - for 2 Euro, which isn't cheap, if you consider. But from a few places, I did buy them. I'll make a box for them, with vellour paper, where they would look like a collection of ancient coins and give it Mum for Xmas. Or for her name-day. Yes, I'm crazy, so what's new? *g*
Leaving Lyon, we travelled through the Massif Central, where we again saw breath-taking walleys and a few pretty steep ways. I was scared to death at some places.
Thiers, our next stop, is a tiny town, best known from its knife-making industry. Of course, they also make medieval swords, spears and armours for people crazy enough to buy them.
See Mum with her knight in shiny armour. Which, alas, is all that is there from the knight:
Tiers would have been an enjoyable place, had our stupid guide made the effort to show us the two or three buildings that actually were there to see, like the castle and the St. Geneve-church. Which she did not. Plus, we managed to arrive during the siesta, at which time each little French town is dead by default, and practically every shop is closed. *le sigh*
Next stop, same day: Ussel and the volcanoes of Puys. Stay tuned!
Our first stop in France was Lyon, where we spent one night in the StarS hotel. And I've just realized that I misled you, folks. The ski lodge wasn't the ship cabin shaped one at all! It was the hotel in Lyon!
In any case, we got up fairly early, packed our things into the bus again and had breakfst in the hotel. Many of the group whined about the absence of ham and sausages and cheese, as French people don't eat those for breakfast as a rule, but Mum and I were happy to have real, honest, down-to-earth French croissants that are seconded by lembas only, and which you can't get anywhere else but France. The fake copies offered every other place just aren't the same.
After breakfast, we went into the city to see the sights. Our first stop was the Bellecour Square, with the statues of Louis XIV and Saint-Exupéry (the father of the Little Prince) on it.
Bellecour Square:
Louis XIV - twice (the figures at his feet symbolize the great rivers of France:
The statue of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Ufortunately, not much of him can be seen here, as I still haven't learned how to zoom. In any case, he's sitting on that column, with the Little Prince standing behind him. I swear.
After that, we made a walk on the bank of the Saone and saw pretty landscapes.
Saone with the church St. George:
Bonaparte Bridge with St. John cathedral:
We then went to see the St. John cathedral, which is a beauty, built during the 10th and 11th centuries. See for yourself:
And yep, that's Mum with the pretty sun-hour...
Leaving the cathedral, our insane guide wanted us to climb up a rather steep hill, upon which the Notre Dame de Fourviere - one of the better known pilgrimage churches of France - stands. Have I already mentioned that at least 70 per cent of the group was beyond 60? Fortunately, someone knew that there was a funiculare up that hill... sort of a mix between an elevator and a tunnel railway. So we took the thing, and even that needed several minutes to get there. And even from the terminus of it, it still took 59 steps tll the gate of the church. (Mum always counts the steps, for reasons of her own...)
I'm very sorry, but I have no pictures about the Fourviere. I found it uly, and at the beginning of the journey I was still bein careful how many photos I took, so that my memory card would last till the end. But if any of you has ever seen pics from the Sacré Coeur in Paris, you know what it looked like. Personally, I hated it.
Also, it's a peculiarity in France that in almost all of their famous historic buildings there are automats where you can buy gilded medals with the picture of the building on it - for 2 Euro, which isn't cheap, if you consider. But from a few places, I did buy them. I'll make a box for them, with vellour paper, where they would look like a collection of ancient coins and give it Mum for Xmas. Or for her name-day. Yes, I'm crazy, so what's new? *g*
Leaving Lyon, we travelled through the Massif Central, where we again saw breath-taking walleys and a few pretty steep ways. I was scared to death at some places.
Thiers, our next stop, is a tiny town, best known from its knife-making industry. Of course, they also make medieval swords, spears and armours for people crazy enough to buy them.
See Mum with her knight in shiny armour. Which, alas, is all that is there from the knight:
Tiers would have been an enjoyable place, had our stupid guide made the effort to show us the two or three buildings that actually were there to see, like the castle and the St. Geneve-church. Which she did not. Plus, we managed to arrive during the siesta, at which time each little French town is dead by default, and practically every shop is closed. *le sigh*
Next stop, same day: Ussel and the volcanoes of Puys. Stay tuned!
