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Published: August 9th 2016
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Woolly says – Having waved goodbye to my tusk eating friend all we needed to do was catch our next bus...... if we could find it! Arriving in good time I left the girls getting our morning croissants and trotted to the information area to check where we should go, armed with a piece of paper I lead the way to the front of the train station and looked around, lots of bus stops, seemed like the right place! It wasn’t, having asked again we were directed 500 metres further down the road where there were no bus stops...... Woolly says – Taking the initiative I popped into a café and asked again only to be redirected back to the bus stops! ........Back we went and I went and asked at another café, nope we needed to be where we had just come from, the game was becoming boring...
Woolly says – we stood staring at the road, I could see that Jo was starting to worry and having checked the time I also had the feeling that the bus should be there for boarding but there was nothing in sight, time to break out the emergency phone.
.......getting through to the bus company, I asked if the lady spoke English (way to difficult to try and ask and hopefully receive instructions in French), ‘un moment’ and I was left listening to music, glancing at my watch, we now had fifteen minutes.... Woolly says – I paced up and down as Jo did the same and Zoe sat with the bags, more minutes went past.... ......An English speaking women came on the line, I explained, ‘un moment’ she said, we have five minutes I said! Woolly says – It was getting tense, even Zoe had joined the pacing, another five minutes disappeared and I started to consider plan b....... ....the lady retuned asking if we were by the metro station, we are, I told her, the bus should be there she said, It’s not I told her, Oh she said can I call you back, hmmmmm were going to miss the bus I pointed out, ‘un moment’ and she vanished from my ear to be replaced by music once more. I looked at the others and they looked at me, ‘ok we can check the trains but it’s going to cost us’ I said.....
Woolly says – less pistachio’s for the day but at least we might get to Lyon I thought! ....... the music stopped and the ladies voice came back, ‘I will call you back’ she said just as two busses pulled up across the road, we ran! Woolly says – No explanation as to why they were so late but at least we had seats and as I settled down for the journey I realised that Jo was still listening to the music on the phone, ‘you can put it down now’! She looked at it and said ‘but that would b rude, I’ll have to wait’ I left her waiting. The journey passed and as we rolled into Lyon I was looking forward to a couple of days rest before heading to our next voluntary placement. Having spent one day dozing and catching up on sleep I was up early on our last full day in Lyon, we had quite an agenda so having prodded and pushed the women into action I set off with the map to find our first destination for the day. The Museum of Resistance and Deportation proved to be fascinating, not much English to inform us but lots of real life stories with sub titles from men and women who had worked for the resistance during the second world war and tales of those that had been deported and spent time as POW’s, fascinating and quite harrowing.
It was excellent and very thought provoking for us to remember those that had risked their lives to help others. Coming back into the empty streets I think we all felt grateful for the legacy that they had left us. Woolly says – a short trot across the first river and I could see our next port of call on the other side of the second river. The building of Lyon cathedral began in the twelfth century on the ruins of a 6th-century church, it was completed in 1476, the outside looked wonderful and as I bounced up the steps and through the door I hadn’t expected it to be so plain inside. The huge doomed ceilings were impressive but not as spectacular as so many others we have been lucky enough to see. Having checked out every nook and cranny we departed and stood working out how to get to the next building which was staring downn on us from up high.
Apparently there was a funicular, but as we stood consulting the map and Woolly tried to chase his tail we couldn’t see anything that looked like a train. Woolly says – I wasn’t chasing my tail I was trying to check my cuteness from the rear! On my third circuit I spied a red sign with a large M hidden in the corner of the square we were standing in and hurried over to check it out. Having watched Jo attempt to purchase the tickets from the machine I left her to it and just went under the barrier! He really will get arrested one of these days! Woolly says – The short journey left us standing outside the beautiful Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourviere, built with private funds between 1872 and 1884 it occupies what was once the Roman forum of Trajan. Inside was even more stunning than the exterior and as we gazed at the wondrous ceilings I had to wonder how all these painters had managed, didn’t they get neck and arm ache! The mosaics were outstanding with gold and blues dominating the scenes depicted. Following the stairs downwards we found ourselves in the crypt, much plainer but with a lovely green backdrop to the alter. Feeling very satisfied with our visit and having taken in the panoramic views across Lyon itself we descended once more to the old centre and found ourselves outside a bar called James Joyce offering the delights of fish and chips.....well who wouldn’t opt for that when their tummy is empty!
Full and rested we strolled through the small streets enjoying the delightful shops and ice cream parlours and having succumbed to the inevitable and then spent half an hour wiping the sticky residue from the mammoths fur we found a museum that looked most interesting. Woolly says - Created by miniaturist artist Dan Ohlmann, the Musée Cinéma et Miniature information told me that it had two rare and exclusive collections: ‘ first, over 100 miniature scenes exquisitely crafted by world-renowned miniaturists and reproducing daily life settings with hyperrealism and second, a film exhibition, one-of-its-kind in Europe, that focuses on special effects techniques’. Having purchased our tickets we headed inside, it was fascinating costumes from the X Men, Planet of the Apes and many more of my favourite films one of Harry Potter’s wands, Mrs Doubtfire’s face and so much more sadly nothing from any of the Ice Age productions but then they would have needed a bigger place to exhibit to get Manny in! Next came room after room with the most intricate miniature scenes beautifully presented and almost life like in the details they had, I think my paws might make it a bit difficult to do anything with them though!
Highly satisfied with our visit we wandered slowly past more beautiful architecture before pausing alongside the River Rhone for a drink. Woolly says – A wonderful city, made possibly even nicer by the lack of people there and as we sat with our cool refreshments we talked about our next volunteer work in the Glamping trade which means one step nearer to starting to look for a new home to call our home, it’s going to get exciting!
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