Lyon, with pics

Written on August 7...

Today was my last full day in France and I must admit that I'm glad my time is almost done. I'm honestly completely fed up with travelling and sightseeing and out of money, so I've spent the last 3 days just walking around town (I must have seen all "the nice places" at least twice), my feet hurt, I'm tired and not hungry, but not well fed either (mostly munching and eating sandwiches, I haven't sat down for a proper meal in a restaurant yet, too $$ and no real interest in local food as it inevitably involves meat (and yuky parts of it too, like the stomach, nose, etc, although I know I could get chicked or duck at most places). On top of it, it started to rain yesterday and today, although not raining, it's freaking cold, so I burn time (and keep warm) here at the internet cafe.

On a brighter note, I went to see a really good french movie yesterday, called "Conversations avec mon jardinier", it was delightful and this morning I went to visit ruins from the Roman time, with the largest coliseum found in the region. This part was quite interesting, as the walk through a very nice park to get to the Basilica was also quite nice, so was the basilica itself. I then had a drink with a friend of a friend, who currently lives here, and it was nice to speak with someone other than a fellow traveller (I litterally cannot stand the "traveller conversation" that we always have at hostels, where are you from, when did you get here, for how long, where from, where to, etc arrggghhh so boring and repetitive!! I've turned a bit antisocial, and avoid people there-to avoid THE conversation. I'll go through the motions when cornered, but always seek an escape route asap. hehehe, man it's time to go home! Throughout this trip I didn't want to complain, so I tried not to, but not I'm officially done...les carrottes sont cuites! the fat lady has sung.

hehehe well, not sure what to end this, overall quite boring entry..pics...why not.

Let's start with a few from Paris (the ones that were on my memory stick)

The artwork around that door was amazing, although probably not very antique...

Cathédrale Notre-Dame, centre of Paris since before it was called Paris!

It says "Point zéro des routes de France" (Point zero of the French roads)

Charlamagne. Tthere's a song in French that says that Charlemagne invented school as we know it...I resisted the urge to throw him a few rotten eggs. hehehe

It was higher than I expected, and due to my own fault and somewhat lazyness, I didnt' go up, but still admired it.

This, on hte other hand, was smalle rthan I expected... The lastnames of ...fighters I guess... were carved everywhere on the structure, but despite looking carefully, I didn't see any that I knew...to bad.

Now Lyon

This is the centre-ville (downtown). it brings me to something I noticed in Paris and ever since, but never mentioned. Cities here (that I've seen) rarely have highrises, everything is 4, 5 sotries max. Probably due to the history of the place, but the contrast is strilking here with the 1 highrise! hehehe Generally churches, and mostly cathedrals are the highest thing around!!!

Vieux Lyon, where the hostel is (on top of the hill), but you cannot see it here.

The roman coliseum, well a small portion of it at least. Thse ruins are quite large and were mostky buried until the 80's when they were dug up. Today they have theatre and music shows there. It's quite the location!

Sketch of the structure "back when", the dark grey portion is what remains and has been restored today. The structure could seat 11,000 people (!) and but did not have a solid roof (due to engineering issues), but rather a velum "fabric" roof to protect from the sun and rain.

and last pic:

Taken right in town, pretty cool! We are in the Rhone region after all (well known for it's wines).

SO that's that, I may post from London, but it will be price dependent... in any case, I'll post some stuff upon my return to CANADA!!! HHAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!! :=)