The next day we started our Hop-on Hop-off tour again, leaving from Place Bellecour and heading through the center of town, meaning to finally get to the Musee de Confluence.
But soon, the bus just stopped in very heavy traffic. After a while, the motor went off. Finally, the driver informed us that a bomb alert had been announced for the buildings ahead of us and the police had cordoned off the streets. The bus could not make the turn at the intersection ahead of us, so it had to wait until the police opened the streets.
We waited for a while, debating whether to leave the bus to improvise yet again, when we heard a loud explosion. One of our fellow passengers said that it was a controlled explosion. So we decided to leave the bus, thinking there would inevitably a lengthy investigation. Just as we did, the police tape was taken down, so we scurried back on the bus and resumed our tour.
This time we got a better look at the muraled buildings, and were ready to document them a little better. This is the first one. There was another father on, that looked like a giant library with books all over it, but the bus sped by too fast for photos.
In fact, this is the back of a building, entirely flat. There's nothing on it but paint.
And some 30 well known citizens of Lyon.
Even the ground level is painted.
Paul Bocuse is there, along with a passing tourist.
The Lummiere brothers are there shwoing off their invention, moving pictures.
A famous store....and a photographer shooting us.
At this point we started onto new territory that we had missed the day before. Our objective was the Musee de Confluence, and the very tip of the peninsula between the Saone and Rhone rivers.
Impressive architecture for what used to be a swamp.
The two mounds on top are meant to reflect the elevations on either side of the peninsula, with other abstract references to location.
Our first stop was...lunch, of course. Laura had read about a famous chef and bistro in the museum, so we made our way to it, on the off chance we could get in without a reservation.
There it was, just beyond the reflecting pool.
SCORE!
(The secret to getting such places I think is arriving at noon, which is early for the French. By 1 the place was packed. or maybe we were just lucky.)
The museum itself was interesting, working on the theme that everything is connection -- the confluence of the physical, cultural, and even metaphorical worlds.
We walked through an excellent presentation about life on in Antarctica, including this 360 degree movie of penguins.
There were a series of rooms devoted to collections of birds, insects and animals through the ages.
Then it was time to leave the Musee de Confluence and get to our river cruise. On our first day, we were told where to find the river cruise, since high water had forced a change of location. The second day we were initially given conflicting information as to the location and the times of the cruise. Before we left the bus, the driver called the office to confirm the times and location, and he promised that if we were waiting at the Musee after our visit, he would get us to the boat dock in time. But it took a careful review of the scheduled bus times and cruise times to determine that every bus was destined to cause us to miss the cruise. So we took a taxi.
The letters in red and white read ONLY LYON from the water, the current tourism mantra of the city.
The bus driver had absently written down the boat dock address, and in retrospect, that was the only thing that got us where we were going.
Our cruise began with the more industrial parts of the confluence area.
We passed by the Musee again.
The area is dedicated to avant garde architecture. This building is not showing a reflection, but an actual image that follows you as you pass by.
There are two office buildings, one green, the other orange, that are architecturally similar.
This is a housing complex.
The Chamber of Commerce building will change its exterior art every two years.
Returning to our dock, we passed the last active soiererie, or silk maker. The trees below the building are mulberry, to feed the silkworms.
After the cruise we walked to the metro station, finally finding our way back to Place Bellecour. When we got there a rag-tag bunch of protestors that would not cause so much as a yawn in Berkeley had resulted in a massive police presence. Buses, trucks and various pieces of equipment, along with heavily armed and protected police blocked every street entering the square.
After we were assured that we would not be able to pass through the police barricades, we walked to the river and then to our hotel.
By the time we finished another very special dinner, we checked all of the "must-sees" off our list for Lyon, and Laura and Bruce prepared to leave for Venice early the next morning.
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