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Lyon, Base
for a Break
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Lyon, Base
for a Break
December 12, 2001
(Written January 18,2002)
Dear Friends and Family,
I'm still behind on diaries. What's the solution? There's just not enough time. I know, I'll write short sentences. That should do it.
We arrived in Lyon with plenty of hotel-searching time. First I checked an inexpensive hotel I knew. Full. Then I checked the Hotel Royal where I had stayed when here on business. (Picture #1) Too royal. Way too expensive. It's interesting how tastes have changed.
We went to the TI (tourist information office). We discovered that all but one of the nearby two-star hotels were full. So we ended up at The Hotel Belcordiere (Picture #2) Our tiny room had a view (Picture #3). Oh well, cheap and clean enough. Changed tastes.
Next task was to find a place for the car while we would be in the US. TI had come up with a list of garages. Looked at several but all were full, expensive or "scary". Eventually found "Jean Pierre" and a garage that had opened in 1914. Other nice cars. Convenient. Good price. No paperwork. Just hand him the key and pray.
Our first dinner was with friend Michel from the old business-travel days. Wonderful meal. Lyon is, after all, the food capital of France.
The next day we could just be tourists. We checked out the train station to get oriented. Seems OK. Busy though. We went across the street to a huge shopping center. It could be anywhere in the world. These places are truly universal. I didn't like it but it was warm.
After warming up, we went to a hospital museum, the Musee des Hospices Civis. Some of this was a replay of the Hospices de Beaune, but not so gory and graphic. No picture taking allowed though. I wonder why? Afraid we'd steal recipes for 100-year-old herbal remedies?
After the medical displays, we wandered over to the Christmas Fair. This was our zillionth Christmas Fair. The only new attraction was a very French folk group, dancing. Very distinctive looking people. Their special treat was a bar-b-qued cheese but we decided to not spoil our dinner. In fact, we finished our first touring day with a very nice pizza dinner. In Lyon, even a simple pizza dinner can be a special treat.
On Wednesday we toured seriously. We started with a Resistance Museum and learned that Lyon had been a center of World War II resistance. These are important museums to learn the local sense of history, but they often are not fun. Besides, this museum was filled with school kids on an outing they didn't like. Wasn't fun for them either I guess. But important.
On to the Beaux Arts museum. Examples of lots of artists but not much coherence, themes, or development. Some decorative arts, like this bedroom set we'd like. Some modern art as well.
Finally, we hit a small African museum. It was done by missionaries from what used to be called French Equatorial Africa. Smallish displays but I thought there were some wonderful artifacts. The masks were very unique and historically accurate. Maybe not an "important museum," but again a small insight into a part of France's past as a colonial power.
One more night gazing at the view form the Belcordiere and an early morning cab to the train station. By the TGV train, it's less than two-hours from Lyon to de Gaulle airport. It's a wonderful way to travel.
At the airport, we went through several levels of security. At the first step, they asked us tough questions like "Where are you from?, Where do you live?, How long are you travelling?" and "Where have you been?" Marianne and I could not get our stories consistent so this questioning took longer than normal I think. But, eventually they concluded that we were just rootless travelers and not threats to flight safety.
The flight to Washington was perfectly uneventful. Good flight. Now we would start our Christmas break with family and friends. Another story.
Take care and trust Jean-Pierre.
John and Marianne
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Page finished January 21, 2002
This page created on a Macintosh using PhotoPage by John A. Vink.