We hopped on the Hop-on Hop-off Open City Tour bus at Place Bellecour, opting for a two day pass including a river cruise. So we headed out. Our objectives for the first day of our pass were the Cathedral St. Jean, followed by the Musee de Confluence.
With the Hop-on Hop-off bus, however, much can go wrong.
The drive through the center of town went well enough.
City Hall looked perhaps a little more popular than it wanted to be.
The trompe l'oeil murals were a treat.
All of these figures are pained on, Lyon's most renowned citizens through the ages.
And even the stop at the cathedral went well.
A touch of the modern along with the traditional.
We took a brief walk around the block past a pastry shop and the back of the church before returning to our bus stop.
More of those pink tartes praline. Can't imagine why.
We would have gotten some to take along, but we had a bus to catch.
Around the back of the cathedral, there were ruins and sings of active archaeology going on.
And then back to the bus stop with 5 minutes to spare.
The 5 minutes became 25 and we finally admitted defeat. We figured either our bus had been early and we had missed it, and we would have to wait a couple of hours for the one after that, or it was not coming. So we improvided. Tom ahd studied the map and figured out that we were moments away from the ficelle, the funicular to the top of the hill. So, we abandoned the bus and headed uphill.
Happily Tom and I had gotten metro tickets when we arrived, so we had enough for the funicular.
Our new objective was Basilica Notre Dame de Fourviere, the upside down elephant herself. Only now we saw it from the tail end so to speak, as well as up front and personal.
The inside was a curious mixutre of styles, with vast mosaics almost Byzantine.
Joan of Arc enters the town.
We noticed a staircase along the side of the church and followed ti downstairs, thinking we would find a crypt. But no. What we found was an entire second church.
Included on the wall was this recent mosaic, a road map for the pilgrimage of Santiago de Compostello, in Spain.
It was a little confusing since French cities were thrown in here and there, but perhaps they are along the route.
In fact, we had seen the scallop shell sign of the route in front of the cathedral just an hour before.
Once we had taken in the inside of the basilica, it was time for the view.
And just like that -- lunch time!
Our friend Barbara has been telling us about a wonderful restaurant at Place Fourviere forever. She gave us some pages from the internet before we left California to help us find it. We had not brought them this day because we had not expected to be on the hill. But there we were, and there (after a question or two) it was. And it was grand, both the view and the food. Merci Barbara!
The other attractions at the top of the hill are the Gallo-Roman theaters, a few minutes walk from the restaurant.
And just as we were ready to walk to the road below the theaters to catch the Hop-on Hop-off bus, we saw it arrive, drop off a few passengers, and speed away.
There was nothing to do but improvise. We filled an hour with a visit to the archaeological museum next to the theaters.
I was particularly struck the these scissors. Tom's mother had sworn by them as a Japanese innovation, and I have several at home. But here they were, Roman artifacts. Who knew?
Now we were determined to find the bus, so it was back to the basilica, finding the bus stop, and making our way onto the bus (finally) for a cold but enjoyable ride back to the Place Bellecour.
And that evening, an exceptionally fine meal at a restaurant near our hotel.
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