Trips

Thurs., 6/9/22 - Lyon

Lyon was declared the “City of the Resistance” by De Gaulle. Today, another excellent local guide gave a two-hour tour of places in Lyon that were important to the resistance movement during WWII. Because it was raining, we sat inside a coffee shop with coffees and listened to her history lesson. This included information about occupied France vs. “free” France, the Vichy government set up by Marshal Philippe Petain; the story of the resistance collaborator, Jean Moulin - where and how he operated; information about the woman who prepared fake papers for Jews and people leaving occupied France and for spies. There are plaques on the walls of many buildings where these activities took place. We walked through some of the 500 secret passageways where information was passed along using code names. It was a very informative two hours.

Sign for Le Garet	Favorite cafe of Jean Moulin
Street named in honor of Jean Moulin	Interesting sculpture
Removing graffiti	Once upon a time (starting in the Middle Ages), barbers were also dentists
	After the Resistance Tour, several of us took a tram to the indoor market, Halle. There we looked at expensive food and lots of seafood and finally found a place to sit and have a French cheese and ham toasted sandwich (Croque Monsieur) and a beer for lunch.
Halle indoor market	Meat (looks like beef) on the hoof, ready for slicing
Sausages and such	Desserts
Another sliced up leg	Fish
Various candies	Macrons
Selling eggs	A baby pig and chickens
A few vegetables	After lunch, we took a tram down to look at the unusual Confluence Museum building. The Museum sits at the confluence of the Rhone and Saone Rivers. It opened in 2014 and is a “multi-faceted stainless steel structure which hides its inner spaces and catches the shifting colors of the sky.” We didn’t have time to spend in the exhibits but walked around admiring and photographing the building and looking at the confluence of the two rivers. Our tour ended in the fourth floor restaurant for a much needed cup of coffee and a brownie. We took a tram and a subway back to our hotel.
Lyon tram	Bridge over the Rhone
Confluence Museum	Main entry (up the stairs)
Outside and inside (on right) of this circular feature
Interesting roof	Museum from the rear
Confluence of the Rhone (left) and Saone Rivers	Two interesting buildings - viewed from the fourth floor of the museum
River tour boat on the Rhone	Bridge over the Rhone
Fri., 6/10/22 - Lyon to Paris by Train Today we took the high speed TGV train from the Perrache Train Station in Lyon to Paris. Our luggage was driven to our Paris hotel in a hired van. In the Lyon station, we went to a Paul store and bought things to eat for lunch on the train. The train travels at 300kph (180mph) and is very smooth and comfortable. The train ride to Paris takes about two-and-a-half hours. Beats riding on the bus for seven hours!
	Station art
Looking down at the trains from inside the Lyon station	Our TGV high-speed train
The TGV train arrived at Gare de Lyon station in Paris at 12:15. After a short walk, the group took the Metro to a place for a cooking lesson where we all made our own macarons. Ours were green with dark chocolate and coffee filling. They turned out quite good. The teacher and her assistant were very good and efficient.
Making macarons
Ready to bake	Adding a top layer
Sat., 6/11/22 - Paris Hooray! The U.S. Government has lifted the Covid test requirement for returning travelers. Two of our group, who fly home tomorrow, had to be tested but the rest of us are staying in Paris and won't go home until after the requirement is lifted. Today's adventure was our tour leader's choice for a walk. She chose a nice stroll that took us from the area of the old opera house to the Palais Royale gardens, just north of the Louvre. The opera house is very fancy inside and out. It is now used primarily for ballet since a new opera house/symphonic hall was built near the Bastille in 1989. Legend says the Phantom of the Opera was created because a chandelier once fell in the old opera house. The façade has marble and gold statues and busts of composers.
Statue de la Republique in Republic Square, near our hotel	Street sign
The Palais Garnier	Ad for the Opera
Façade of the Palais Garnier	Gold statue atop the Palais Garnier
One of the many enclosed passageways lined with boutiques and with glass and steel roofs.	Fontaine Louvois - intended as an homage to four great rivers of France: the Seine, the Garonne, the Loire, and the Saone
Sign for the Richelieu Library	Richelieu Library entrance
Interior of the Richelieu Library	Interior
Marble medallions	Interesting light fixture
Book stacks in the Richelieu Library	The passageway called Gallerie Vivienne with a mosaic floor, glass ceiling, and fancy plaster reliefs.
Gallerie Vivienne	Gallerie Vivienne
Gallerie Vivienne	Celia's tour ended in the Palais-Royal Jardin, a lovely peaceful rose garden with tree-lined walkways. There was also a courtyard lined with black and white short pillars (The Colonnes), a modern expression of structure and design.
Palais-Royal Jardin	Palais-Royal Jardin
La Fountain des Spheres - Sculpture in the courtyard	The Colonnes - Sculpture in the courtyard
Theater Palais Royal	Theater Palais Royal
After the group tour was over, we walked to the Bourse building metro stop and rode to the Musee de Arts et Metiers that is housed in an old abby. The museum contains a huge collection of scientific instruments, tools, inventions of all sorts, etc. We spent two hours enjoying the displays. The museum’s theme is “man’s ingenuity and the worlds of invention and manufacturing." It was very interesting and would take weeks to appreciate all of it. There was so much stuff there that even taking a few photos was futile. (Link - not exhaustive, but somewhat informative.)
Just interesting	Clemet Ader's Avion III
Past to present bicycles	Demonstration in Republic Square

This evening was the traditional Farewell Dinner. It was at Boullion - a very busy restaurant. The food was so-so and the service pleasant, but inefficient.

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