Adventures Around Lyon Part 1

My last post concerned the academic life here, so now I'm going to discuss my exploration of the beautiful city of Lyon. Since coming here, I've learned a lot more about this ancient city.

Lyon has two rivers that run through it: the Rhône and the Saône, which for pronunciation reference, both rhyme with cone. At one point the Saône empties into the Rhône, creating the Confluence, and a peninsula with both rivers surrounding it. This peninsula is called the Presqu'ile. 

Two weeks ago, I took a bus tour around the city, led by a professor of architecture at Lyon 2. She told us more about the history of Lyon, pointing out which neighborhoods of the city used to belong to the working class and which to the bourgeosie. We took the bus up to the cathedral Notre Dame de Fourvière, which rests on the top of a large hill overlooking the city, on the far side of the Saône. We took plenty of pictures of the view, and we looked around the cathedral. 

The view was breathtaking. Lyon was laid out before us like a map. I actually was able to recognize some of Lyon's geographic features. I really am starting to know my way around this beautiful city.

Partial view from the top of the hill by Notre Dame de Fourvière

When we went into the cathedral, the professor told us that the French, in fact, find the building to be ugly, because it mixes too many architectural styles. I still thought the outside of the cathedral was pretty gorgeous, but I could see what she meant about the inside. It has a lot of different paintings and decorations which are all very detailed and busy. Not very easy on the eyes.

Notre Dame de  Fourvière

Next, the bus took us to Vieux Lyon, whose medieval buildings are all preserved. The professor showed us a traboule, which is a passageway between houses. Only two districts in Lyon have them: Vieux Lyon, and Croix Rousse. She explained to us that the traboules had a rich history. They were first used by merchants in the Middle Ages to carry silk without exposing it to the rain. Later, they were used during World War II to allow Jews fleeing the Nazis to find shelter. The inhabitants of the houses would shuttle them from house to house through the traboules so that they were not discovered.

A Traboule

My next adventure occurred a couple of days later. Huong and I decided to check out the Roman Theaters, which are not far from Fourvière. It was really an amazing experience to walk around such ancient theaters. They're 2000 years old, and when you sit in the seats, it transports you right back to what it must have been like to sit there, watching a spectacle unfold. The smaller theater, the Odeon, was where musical performances took place. The bigger theater has a marble floor on the stage area, which is still mostly intact.

Above the two theaters was the ruins of an old Roman street, which we also checked out. 

The large amphitheater

I guess the Romans were short like me!

We had some interesting encounters at this ancient historical site. First, an older, unkempt French man carrying a radio hailed down Huong, asking her what her ethnicity was. Then he started telling the two of us how he ran some sort of program for young adults in which they went out doing activities. It sounded like some sort of dating service. But there was something not quite right about the way he talked to us. To put it simply: he was downright creepy. He asked us our names, ages, and where we were from. Then he asked me if I wanted a boyfriend. I told him very strongly, no thank you I already have one. He kept on encouraging us to come to his programs, and we just kept on saying "Non, merci, desolée." Huong and I had started edging away from him, and we desperately looked around for some excuse to cut the conversation short. 

The sun's going down and we want to take pictures, Huong told him, which finally allowed us to escape. But not before he kissed our hands (ew!!!). We made sure to circle all the way around to the other side of the large amphitheater when we left, so we didn't run into him again.

Next, we were admiring the view from the top of the amphitheater, when we saw some sort of group forming on stage. I still have not figured out what exactly was going on. There were several young men and women on stage, dressed in togas, and there were others on stage in normal clothes. One by one, the men and women in togas were invited up to the hooded leader of the group, who knighted them with a sword and had them swear allegiance to this owl sign on a stick.
It looked like some kind of initiation into a club or a reenactment of some historic event. Huong thought they might be part of a roleplaying group. To me, it looked like some sort of Greek life ritual, but that doesn't make sense since they do not have fraternities or sororities here. 

Some sort of reenacted ceremony? Or roleplaying?

I'm already about two weeks behind in this blog, so I'm going to post this now and continue writing about my adventures more in the next post. I've finally finished the Intensive Language Program here, two whirlwind weeks of French classes that culminated in exams. This weekend is les Journées des Patrimoine, which means that all of the museums and other attractions in the city are free and open to the public. There seems to be some sort of celebration or event every week here. Last week, there was the parade to open the Biannual Dance Festival here, which is still going on right now. I'm going out to have some more adventures, and I look forward to tell all of you about them soon.

Hey the sign has the title of my blog!