Paris-Lyon 2009: Getting our bearings

We really didn't know that much about Lyon before we arrived here on Thursday. We knew that it was large, though not nearly as large as Paris; that it was located at the confluence of two major rivers (the Rhône and the Saône); and that it was often referred to as the "gastronomic capital of France." We knew it was farther south than Paris and would therefore be a bit warmer here. We knew there was a fair amount of international activity (businesses, students, conferences...), although not nearly as many tourists as in Paris. There are numerous other cities we could have chosen for the second half of our stay in France, but as fate would have it, we picked Lyon. Now that we had actually arrived, it was time to figure out in a little more detail, Where the heck are we and what do we do while we're here??

Since Friday was going to be a national holiday (Labor Day) and we weren't sure how much would be closed that day, we headed for the main tourist information office in downtown Lyon straightaway on Thursday afternoon in hopes of at least obtaining a decent map of the city to get our bearings. We were able to get a semi-decent map, although I'm planning to keep looking at bookstores to see if I can find a more complete version (say, one that shows all nine arrondissements in their entirety) for a few euros. We also picked up our fill of brochures about local museums and upcoming events.

While browsing the Web back at the apartment later, Aaron was able to find a pretty good Lyon travel guide on Wikitravel that explains quite a bit about the history and geography of the city. Unlike in Paris, where the 20 arrondissements were all numbered at the same point in time and thus form a somewhat logical sequence (spiraling out from the center of the city like a snail's shell), in Lyon, it seems that each new area annexed to the city was assigned the next number available at the time it was added, meaning that in modern Lyon, knowing the number of the arrondissement you are in tells you more about where your neighborhood falls in the history of the city's development than where it is situated geographically. We are in Vieux Lyon (Old Lyon; 5th arrondissement), an area that the Wikitravel guide notes was threatened by a highway project in the 1960s until a group of concerned people rallied to have it preserved as a historical landmark. It now appears to be a thriving area full of refurbished old buildings with restaurants or boutiques on the ground floor and apartments on the higher floors. The streets are narrow and cobbled and mostly dominated by pedestrians. Much more interesting than staying in a newer part of town!

Below are a few pics from our first walk in Lyon on Thursday.

Cathedral St. Jean (about 2 blocks from our apartment)

Public library just behind the Cathedral St. Jean :)

Pont Bonaparte, the bridge closest to our apartment connecting Vieux Lyon to downtown Lyon (this picture is taken from the downtown side, looking back at Vieux Lyon and Fourvière Hill, which you will hear more about in my next post!)