Lavoie, Richard - fat city : how difficult can this be? special ed.

The busload of 20 that left for Lyon at 8:30 in the morning did not get back to the ship until 8:00 pm. Even though they had less distance back to the ship (since we'd made about 5 hours progress upriver) it took them 3 hours to drive back because of an accident (not involving them) on the road caused quite a delay. Thus it was another late dinner... we've become quite continental.

The second that the last key had been removed from the board (signaling that everyone was present and accounted for) we set sail again. We will be continuing on through the night. Our room is close to the engine room and not as quiet as it has been while we were docked, but it's a steady drone and I do not expect it to interfere with my sleep.

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After breakfast this morning we docked in Vienne, a 3 hour cruise from Lyon, but only 40 minutes by bus. We toured Lyon (with wonderful guide Magali) while the boat continued 'navigating' to rendezvous with us.

Lyon is at the Confluence of Rhone and Soane rivers, the peninsula being the city center. Paris, Marseilles, Lyon. Main north south highway (north to the mountains, south to Mediterranean) goes through the city center, making the city famous for traffic jams. Silk textiles. Sometimes you can see Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Europe.

Spectacular basilica! But no weddings, funerals, or baptisms are conducted there, only masses. Mosaics were exquisite. (fun fact: it's the only church in France with an elevator.)

The bus drove down a (very) steep winding hill - world cup of roller blading has been held there. The town boasts 1500 restaurants - for sport of eating.

Only ten people in Lyon still hand weave on the Jacquard looms (with gold, silver and silk threads, weaving about 30 centimeters per day. Fun fact for all the quilters whose husbands gripe about how much we spend on fabric...a meter of fabric costs 2000 Euros (about $2700!) There are about 150 murals painted on buildings around town, and we saw on the showed Jacquard holding fabric.

There was a very nice Bartholdi sculpture in the square (he did the Statue of Liberty.)

I was glad we got to see one of the treboule passages the others saw yesterday. The Resistance used these secret passages (unknown to the Germans) during war to move about town and escape from the Nazis.

Tomorrow we will
Have an opportunity to do some window shopping (the French phrase for that as window licking.)

We saw car parks by the rivers. Many of the streets are too narrow to take cars to homes.

The boat took longer than exected to arrive (it had to wait its turn at a lock) so we got to view an enclosed market that sells to the finer restaurants (although it is open to the public. Named for famous chef.

We passed a large park (comparable to Central Park) called Parc Tete d'Or (there is a rumor that a golden head of Jesus buried there.) The park includes a zoo, botanical gardens, a very large lake, etc.

The city has 400 bike stations, where you can get a bike to ride for free for 30 minutes. People ride for 29, return it and pick up another bike and continue on. City wants people to cut down on driving.

'WWII and the French Resistance in the Rhone Valley' talk after lunch. Monsieur Barbel, a resistance fighter, came to speak to us about his experiences. We thought he looked too young so figured he must have fought as a young teenager. But he turned out to be 94!!! He joined the resistance at the beginning of the war in 1939, was eventually arrested, and spent last years of the war in Mauthausen concentration camp.