Hot day into warm evening.
I started the day by walking down to the tourist office located in the truly gigantic Bellecour square, got a city map and set off for the old city and the funicular to the Fourviere hill and the Basilique Notre Dame de Fourviere. Built as a promise by the local Catholics after the French - Prussian war in 1870-71. It is a really hideous place, worth seeing as an example of French architecture at its worst at the end of the 19th century. Probably the idea at the time was that if you could squeeze one extra Virgin Mary into a corner, that would be a good thing. To call the place overloaded would be an understatement. The Dolmabahce palace in Istanbul was built more or less at the same time, both must be examples of the exaggerated enthusiasm for putting in absolutely everything you are able to squeeze in, that be angels or Virgin Marys. Maybe not that many angels (or even Virgin Marys) in Dolmabahce actually, but you get the point.
Could not bring myself to take a photo of the place, everything was a bit too much in a way. Concentrated on the view from the hill instead
and walked down the stairs to the city afterwards.
Then it became hot. Really seriously hot, and my enthusiasm for the energetic tourist activities melted away in the heat. I sat at Place des Terraux for a few hours, had some white wine and lunch and read English papers, the Jan Vermeer exhibition in the National Gallery seems to be a major sensation in London. A bit inspired by that I finally managed to convince myself that I should take a look at the Beaux Arts museum at the other side of the square; either it was too hot or the lunch had not been properly digested, and it was not a very successful visit. Went back to the hotel for a siesta instead, it was the day for it.
Set off at around 5 for a new tourist round, this is a detail of the Fresque des Lyonnais building, where something like 30 personalities with a connection to Lyon are portrayed on the seven storey building, including the loom inventor Jaquard and the discoverer Verrazzano in this example.
Antoine St Exupery (and the Little Prince) is portrayed on the west side of the building, the light was not good enough for a reasonable good photograph of that during the afternoon.
The whole centre of the city literally exploded with life during the evening. People were walking everywhere
and there were without exaggeration at least one band playing every 100 meters or so. The trad New Orleans band the Blue Naphtaline, playing a closer walk with thee, are at the top of this page, other bands, like this traditional French, were found on every second corner.
Fantastic atmosphere and a fantastic city.
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