Lyon, la Fin

 One of our main reasons for visiting Lyon was the Institut Lumière, part of which is a museum dedicated to the Lumière brothers. Auguste and Louis were Lyonnais inventors of much of the technology for producing moving pictures. They made some of the earliest films and also, through the production of projection equipment, film and cameras in their factory, helped to popularize and spread film across the world. Here is Lia at the front door of the old Lumière villa, now home to the museum.

Behind the museum is the old Lumière factory. The original wood frame structure is somewhat visible in the photo below through the windows of the larger glass building that was built to protect it. The new building also has a theater to which we returned the next night for a screening of 2001: A Space Odyssey as part of the Stanley Kubrick retrospective. 

At the first motion picture screening in Paris in 1895, the first film shown was called "La Sortie de l'Usine Lumière à Lyon" known in English as "Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory." 

Here it is, all 47 second of it.

 

The courtyard now has glass panels with images of the original workers leaving the factory. 

Here we express our honor and respect for these cinematic pioneers.

There was some major excitement across the street from where we had lunch after visiting the museum. Fire! It was terrifying! There were firemen and police and onlookers, all due to an errant cigarette meeting a collection of leaves and garbage under a sidewalk grate. The fireman put it out and shoveled the detritus up onto the sidewalk where I assume someone else was supposed to clean it up. It stank.

The next day we went to the amazing Parc de la Tête d'Or. We love botanical gardens and try to find them in every city we visit. Tête d'Or has a large conservatory building, several smaller greenhouses and a vast outdoor garden area. 

After leaving the conservatory, we set out for a walk around the park. I saw what I thought from a distance were groups of people enjoying lovely pique-niques.

Upon closer inspection, they were deer. Or something like deer. 

We quickly learned that part of the park is a large open air zoo. 

flamingos!

watusi!

pelican!

agitated pelican!

The next day we took the funicular subway train, or la ficelle ("the string") as the Lyonnais call it, up to the Croix Rousse neighborhood. Croix Rousse is set on the hill on the north end of the peninsula. It was for many years the center of Lyon's silk industry. We were going to visit La Maison de Canuts- The Silkworkers Museum. Here is the neighborhood as viewed from the right bank of the Rhone.

Croix Rousse is also known for its traboules, a byzantine collection of stairways and passages that pass through the buildings on the way down (or up) the hill. 

The last shot is not in Croix Rousse, but I like the skyway.

I also like whatever this thing is. It was on a landing in a Croix Rousse traboule.

It looks like a very old golf shoe cleaner.

After Croix Rousse, we visited the Musèe des Tissus et Arts Décoratifs (Fabrics and Decorative Art). They do not allow photography due to the fragile nature of the fabric, some of which is about 2000 years old. It was pretty amazing and I recommend it to anyone visiting Lyon. After the Fabric Museum we were too worn out to tackle the Decorative Arts, but I imagine it is impressive as well. 

Our last night in Lyon we went out for dinner at Magali et Martin, a restaurant on the higher end of the fancy scale than the bouchons. The chef had worked at several three star joints in Paris before settling in Lyon. It was a great meal- seasonal, elevated and refined Lyonnais cooking. No photos were taken, but the memories of the meal are still clear, which is a strong recommendation.

In conclusion, Lyon rules- great food, interesting sights and history, two rivers, natural beauty, old stuff. Smaller than Paris, with a more relaxed, casual feel- not unlike Minneapolis. We were often struck by how much it felt like home. 

 The Flower Tree on Place Antonin Poncet.

I ran like hell to get this yellow suit guy in the frame with the sculpture as he walked by.

Our two hour train ride back to Paris lengthened to four (4!). Due to congestion at the terminal, some trains had to stop a little outside of town. Despite official warnings to not open the doors, some 100 people from other waiting trains apparently took early departures and so we then had to wait for room at the station as well as the removal of an impatient horde before ending our journey. 

Luckily, I bought a large beer in Lyon.

Noël, Noël

 Last night we went out to see some of the holiday lights that have been put up around the city. There are decorations on a lot of the streets - Oberkampf, for example, has some lit up stars hung across it that remind me of the ones they hang up on the main street in Virginia, MN. But some areas are particularly known for having light displays. One of them is the Place Vendome, below.

Another is, of course, the Champs Élysées. From the Place de la Concorde to Place FDR, there is a big Marché de Noël with a tons of stands selling cheap jewelry, jars of foie gras, chocolates, and piles of useless trinkets, mixed in with others selling mulled wine and hot chocolate and other snacks. We didn't buy anything, but it was fun to see.

Père Noël, the big man himself, was hovering above the Marché in his sleigh (with a crane to er, supplement the reindeer power) and giving a rousing speech, describing his Christmas routine. It was much as you might expect : "Je mets tous les cadeaux dans mon gros sac noir, et puis je l'installe dans mon traîneau..." etc. (I put all the presents in my big black bag, and then I put it in my sleigh...)

Here's the Champs Élysées with the trees all lit up, and us standing on the pedestrian island between lanes of traffic.

After this we went to the Relais de l'Entrecôte to complete our tourist adventure with steak frites. For those unfamiliar, this is a restaurant that serves nothing but steak with fries. The first thing the waitress asks you is "quelle cuisson?" (how do you want it?) to which you reply, "bleu" or "saignant" (rare or medium rare). The sauce is supposed to be some kind of secret recipe, light yellow-green and definitely containing some tarragon and a little mustard, but we weren't sure what else. Internet searches later suggested chicken liver and cream as well. In any case, we heartily enjoyed it and went home stuffed.

Even if we weren't going anywhere, there wouldn't have been space for a Christmas tree in the apartment. However, we did pick up one little bit of festiveness. Here is our new, official Champignon de Noël.

(it is actually a Finnish mushroom, but I guess that's appropriate)

 Tomorrow, however, we are packing up our Christmas Mushroom and going to Spain (although there is a snowstorm threatening to mess up our plans, so I'm knocking on wood as I type this). We plan to walk around on the beach and maybe visit the Sagrada Familia cathedral. We will be in Barcelona until the 25th, then in San Sebastien for a couple of days, then Bayonne, then back to Paris for New Year's Eve. While Christmas in Spain sounds sort of glamorous and lovely, I'm quite certain it won't be as wonderful as rushing around around Minneapolis and St. Paul and having the very great privilege of seeing all our family and friends.