France in the springtime

Outside the Lyon airport from a shuttle. Cute anagram but needed to use English to achieve this. For a while having English in signs was forbidden in Quebec as they are trying to keep the French language’pure’ but in France they routinely use English phrases such as email versus courreil electronique

So it’s been nearly 2 months since I have posted. It’s been a hard winter with the ice storms power outages and the cold that persists even into May as I write. Michigan had a week in the high 70s back in April but that was the same week we were in the South of France where it was unseasonably cold. Bonus, right before we left on on cruise we were told that due to the French strikes, the locks weren’t operating so we would be in a hotel and bussed around instead of being on a ship. The strike was partially settled while we were there so less time on the hotel and the buses than anticipated but still things were missed

 

Instead of staying in the heart of the city, we stayed in a newly built area on the outskirts designed by Renzo Piano. So cool architecture, nicehotel and a beautiful nearby park

Lots of flowers in the nearby Tête d’Or parque 

Us at its golden gate

The basilica high on the Fourriere hill

Lots of gold mosaics inside 

Lyon is know for murals everywhere   We missed the ones I planned on seeing no thanks to the strike

Lots of cool architecture in the old quarter 

Lyon was the European capital of silk back in the day. Hard to compete now with China so they concentrate on high end design and quality. A silk salesperson came on board the next day

Cathedral in the old quarter 

The hotel did have a good dessert buffet. They had tiny wooden spoons for their tiny cremes brulees

Behind the graffiti wall the Basilica de la Fourriere

Fountain by the same guy who made the Statue of Liberty 

Took a bus to the northeast to Beaujolais country to visit a winery and sample wines. 

Can only use these expensive oak casks a few times before the flavor they impart wears off

Went to the cute town of Beauje which gives the Beaujoulais wines their name

Lots of modern architecture in Lyon. This is the Museum of the Confluence where the Saone and Rhine meet. Not sure how they have a whole museum about that

Some of the silks sold onboard. Got my special birthday present there

Small town of Vivienne. We were cautioned that the climb to the top might be too strenuous for some. I signed up for it with the guide eyeing me very dubiously.  How the mighty have fallen. I zipped up to the top to everyone’s surprise 

On the way up

Looking down at a Roman theater. Romans made many settlements up and down the Rhine

Love Wisteria 

2000 year old Roman temple with slightly more modern sculpture 

French night cheese course

We took an old steam train through a canyon in the Ardeche region known for chestnuts and mulberry trees ( silkworm food)

France’s two alternative energy sources side by side

Night hike in Viviers France. Worried about tripping in the dark which some did. Lucky to have remained upright the whole trip. They gave us French hot chocolate after we returned tasting like molten Vahlrona chocolate bars also from the area

The highlight of the trip was Arles where Van Gogh did his best work

Roman area and Steve

city hall

my photo of the Hotel de Dieu

Van Gogh’s painting 100 plus years earlier 

Recently built Luma building by Gehry 

Inside was cool too

Walls covered with salt

Wish I went on the slides

Staircase looking up

The building was in a very pretty park

Bartenders preparing for the toast. We had the drink passage. All we could drink

Avignon. Where the pope lived for a hundred years as Rome was falling apart. For a while they had two popes. province was not part of France until Napoleon grabbed it. They had their own language Occitan. Street signs were in Occitan and French 

The papal palace which we spent a long time touring 

The famous Pont d’avignon

Steve and I went to the more modern part of town. 

Our ship