Our French Leave: AU REVOIR LYON

With just a few days left in our five-week stay in Lyon, we’re going down our list of must-do’s before we head for northern France. This past week we checked off a tour through the famous traboules (passage ways) in Old Lyon, a visit to a sobering yet inspiring museum, and dinner at one of Lyon’s iconic bouchon restaurants.

Oh, and finding some walls. Lyon is the home of CitéCréation, an organization of artists formed in 1978 to beautify cityscapes with enormous murals. Partnering with public institutions and private companies, CitéCréation (http://cite-creation.com/eng/) teams have painted some 600 murals in cities around the world. The largest concentration of these frescoes is in Lyon, and we’ve had fun tracking them down in our walks around the city. Most are vast, covering entire sides of buildings. A sampling:

A tribute to the people and culture of Lyon's Croix Rousse district.

Croix Rousse mural (detail).

Notable citizens of Lyon through the centuries.

Notable Lyonnais (detail).

Celebrity chef Paul Bocuse, a son of Lyon (detail).

Lyon, a futuristic fantasy.

Futuristic fantasy (detail).

"Bibliothèque" (library) honoring regional writers.

"Bibliothèque" (détail).

Tribute to Mexican painter Diego Rivera.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK

Passage Ways. Vieux Lyon on the right bank of the Saône, the oldest part of the current city dating back to the Middle Ages, is known for, among other things, a network of passage ways that connect various spaces. Some are little more than tunnels (traboules) that allowed movement between parallel medieval streets before the planning of cross-streets began. In time the term encompassed a wider variety of architectural features, including courtyards and windowed stairwells. As wealthy merchants and financiers built ever more palatial residences in the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance, traboules became correspondingly more elaborate. We toured the area with an amiable French guide who was confident enough of his English to toss in wisecracks.

"Rose Tower" viewed from traboule courtyard.

Two views of traboule passage ways.

Looking down a traboule spiral staircase.

A Museum. In late 1942 Nazi Germany violated the 1940 surrender agreement that divided France into occupied and unoccupied (Vichy) zones. German troops rolled into Lyon, followed by the infamous Gestapo. A German officer, Klaus Barbie (later dubbed the “Butcher of Lyon”), established the Gestapo HQ in a former French military hospital, from which he spearheaded counter-attacks against the French resistance, as well as a reign of terror against Jews and other minority groups. Today the building houses the excellent Museum of the Resistance and Deportation. Like other memorials of the Holocaust, the museum is achingly sad; at the same time, the accounts of heroism by French Resistance fighters – many of whom were tortured and killed – are stirring. A display recounts the 1987 trial in Lyon of Klaus Barbie, who, after extradition from Bolivia, was convicted of crimes against humanity.

Museum entrance.

A symbol of mankind's hopes for the end of war.

A Bouchon. Bouchons started in the 19thcentury as rustic eateries that served hearty, inexpensive meals to workers. The fare is heavy on meat, and hardly any parts of livestock and fowl go unused. Somewhere along the line bouchons gained iconic status, and today they occupy a prominent niche in the self-proclaimed culinary capital of France. This week we sampled bouchon food and ambience at the recommended Café Comptoir Abel. Our meals were tasty, and the humming restaurant was made even cozier by the rain falling outside.

A daytime photo of our night-time bouchon.

The Rabelaisian symbol of a "true" bouchon.

A Family Meal. The week ended with a rare treat for foreigners: Sunday dinner with a French family. A few years back Jim’s brother, John, became friends with a Lyonnais couple who were in the United States for scholarly research. John informed them of our sojourn here, and this led to an invitation to dine. Our hosts, Jérôme and Laure, live in a northern suburb of Lyon with their 12-year-old son, Charles. We spent a delightful afternoon with them in their comfortable home. We were served the traditional French four-course meal, which is so identified with the French way of life that it has been recognized by UNESCO with a special cultural designation. Though they speak excellent English, the family members flattered us by speaking French, patiently allowing us to get in some needed practice. We’ll cherish the memory of this occasion, along with some engaging new friends.

PARTING SHOTS