Three Temples In Lyon

Travel

After our drive through the French Alps – I think that’s what the general area is called – our entry into Lyon was through Lyon’s industrial underbelly. It is not the entry I would suggest to an otherwise beautiful city. Lyon is a city Michele and I both wanted to revisit after first seeing it in July of 2018. It is France’s third-largest city, after Paris – which is Europe’s largest city, unless, of course, one wants to count Moscow as European, which I don’t – and Marseille. We arrived late on Sunday, and the two main places we wanted to see – or re-see, in one case – were closed on Monday.

A Temple to Faith

We defaulted to a unique cathedral on a hill overlooking Lyon, the Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourvière, designed by Marie-Louis Jean Sainte-Marie Perrin. Marie-Louis Jean Sainte-Marie Perrin is a local guy, which is pretty unusual, but very welcome. The Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourvière is, to my eye, a strange building – its website says that it is a combination of “Byzantine, Gothic, and Romanesque styles – it shouldn’t, but it does seem to work. As an aside, I couldn’t find the Romanesque parts, and I would add Baroque to the list, especially in the interior.End aside.

Under the main cathedral, is a smaller church which I thought was more intimate and appealing.

Near the Basilique Notre-Dame, there is a Roman theater, probably built about 15 BC when Lyon was Lugdunum and Augustus was visiting (or in charge). At that time, Lyon was the capital of Roman Gaul, and the theater held, presumably, about 10,000 screaming fans.

A Temple To Food

We went to Lyon primarily to see the Musée des Confluences, but first we revisited Lyon’s Temple to food, Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse. Lyon self-identifies as “the world capital of gastronomy,” and they are probably right. I liked the food here better than anywhere we have traveled (except, maybe, Tokyo). The city’s history has promoted and continues to promote the exchange of culinary products and cultural influences.. Lyon’s culinary history dates back to when it was a major Roman trading center 25 centuries ago, which has led to its distinctive and influential cuisine. That cuisine was also heavily formed by the influence of the “Mères Lyonnaises” -“female cooks” to us less fluent in Lyonese cooking history – who had their own restaurants especially during the 19th through the early 20th centuries. While it’s hard to believe that women were ever influential in anything, if you read most history books, you can look it up.  

We had planned to arrive early, spend a couple of hours at the Food Temple, and then go to the main event, the Musée des Confluences. That, it turns out, is impossible. Here are a couple of, almost random, photos from inside the Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse.

To be continued…

(The déjà vu of) Driving To Lyon Through A Stunning Landscape

Cousins' Trip, Travel

But first, an aside, France is modern. Even the electric outlets look modern, and the cars even more so. End aside.

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime. Mark Twain

Almost a week ago, we drove from Die to Lyon. We drove the long way, up a valley into the mountains, over a pass – well, through a tunnel about 500 feet below the actual pass – down the valley to the north, and across some rolling foothills, and then across the mostly flatlands into the industrial part of Lyon.

As we headed up, the road was steep with lots of switchbacks, but after the tunnel, the descent was more gradual, somewhat like going over the Sierras from east to west, but not as extreme. We passed through several small, picturesque villages, and I started thinking about a conversation I had at our re-u with one of the hosts.

I had said that the village we had visited was beautiful, and she responded that every place in France was beautiful. I retorted that every place is beautiful, meaning that every natural place I have been that hasn’t been desecrated by the overlay of civilization is beautiful. I remember being in a drizzling rain that smelled of cow shit in Amarillo, Texas – coincidencly on the way to another family re-u – and thinking the Texas plains are the uglyest place I’ve ever been. The next day, we went for a walk in a private park – yes, Texas has private parks – that celebrated the Texas plains, and remarked to Michele on the stunning beauty.

But our host was right, in France, at least in this part of the country, the overlay of civilization is softer and more integrated into the landscape.

As we got to the base of the mountains, I had an overwhelming sense of déjà vu. It felt like driving out of the Sierra Nevada mountains on Highway 120. We would drop down the Old Priest grade and the air would warm, then into the valley made by the Tuolumne River before it was filled by a lake made by a worthless dam, then the land would flatten, and then, just west of Escalon, in the heat, we would drive on a narrow section of road through the almond groves. It didn’t look the same, but it did feel the same (except for the hayfields).

Around Die At The Re-U

Photography, Travel

There are both Europeans and Americans at the re-u, and all the Americans have been to Europe more times than I’ve been to – hell, I don’t know – LA, and all of them speak at least two languages. I feel like a country bumpkin who wandered into a gathering of overachieving travelers.

I am not a Europhile – although I am a European car fan – I love California, especially the part of California where we live, but it is hard to shake the feeling, especially with this group, that Europe is more civilized and just plain more Civil than we Americans. The comparison between Greece during its Golden Age and Rome, which ruled the Mediterranean with sheer power, keeps coming to mind.

It is hot here – https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/29/world/europe/europe-heat-wave-record-temperatures.html – with temperatures reaching close to 100F by mid-day, and it sucks the energy – energy I already have in short supply – out of me. Last Friday, we drove up a long, rough, gravel road to a view spot overlooking Die (photo in previous post). I didn’t take many photos, except for the spring flowers.

Saturday, we went to a small art show in a charming nearby village.

To be continued…

We Are At The Cousins’ ReU In Die, France, European Union

Travel

The thing that staggers you when you first come to France is the fact that all the French speak French—even the children. ~ Olivia de Havilland

After several false starts, we are now very much alive in Die. We flew to Barcelona, had an excellent dinner, slept, took the TGV high-speed train to Valence, France, rented a car, and drove to dinner at what I can only describe as an adult Party House. This is a shockingly beautiful part of the world that, two days ago, I only knew as a place on a map. Still, it is hot and humid and I am still recovering from both my bladder operation two weeks ago and my trans-Atlantic flight two days ago so I am whooped.

We Are Going to Michele’s Cousin’s Reunion

Medical

To be more accurate, though, we are flying into Barcelona and then driving to the reunion in Die, France, with a short layover in Carcassonne, France. After the reunion, we are driving to Paris, with a layover in Lyon. Then we fly to Ireland, where we spend several days at Michele’s family retreat in Baltimore, Ireland.

No one said it would be easy, but somehow, that’s what I heard. A refrigerator magnet that Michele has on our refrigerator, not for my latest surgery, but certainly applicable.

In the meantime, I am recovering from my bladder surgery. Not recovering very gracefully, I should add, now that I found out that I have to do the surgery all over again. The doctor thinks that he got all the cancer, but will have to return to inside my poor bladder to dig through the ruins to be sure he got everything.

Meanwhile, Israel Pearl Harbored Iran, and Russia continues with its efforts to eliminate Ukraine. It makes worrying about an uncomfortable surgical procedure seem pretty.