Lyon

A visit to this area wouldn’t be complete without a trip to Lyon. Along with being named a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its outstanding architecture, Lyon is also famous for its silk production and its gastronomical delights. We were all looking forward to experiencing everything Lyon was famous for!

Its architectural beauty was immediately obvious. The old part of the city is on a peninsula formed by the junction of the Soane and the Rhone rivers that is overlooked by the impressive basilica up on the hill. The buildings, with their distinctive red tiled roofs, wind along a maze of narrow streets that were used by the Resistance during WWII to evade the Germans.

Mario found a little clockmaker shop known from one of those French movies that he likes to watch so much. There were also hidden courtyards with small architectural treasures, and one that smelled deliciously of boeuf bourguignon!

And we could not resist looking at a few gorgeous churches with stunning stained glass windows and sculptures that offered a bit of quiet and cool respite.

We ran into some interesting sights, like this man paddleboarding on the Rhone...

... and this impressive mural of famous Lyonnais, covering the entire side of a building. Kate and Michael felt inspired to try to get into the picture.

  

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Kate and Vicki were on the hunt for some authentic silk scarves, and we happened upon the perfect place – a shop that’s been in business for literally hundreds of years. The man in the window is the latest in a lineage of silk craftsmen going back five hundred years. He works with the same looms and materials that his predecessors used. We watched him demonstrate how to make real silk velour and he even gave Joy a little thread of gold silk. Lyon was once the home of 30000 silk craftsmen. Now there are five. So we felt quite privileged to meet him and of course, we had to buy some of his fine products.

As for the food … one of the most famous restaurants in Lyon is Paul Bocuse's and although we would love to have eaten there, our budgets didn’t allow it. However, we discovered that the same proprietor ran another less expensive restaurant called Le Sud, and we happily “slummed it” there for lunch. The  food and the ambiance were wonderful.

On the advice of a friendly and helpful tour guide, we found ourselves at an off-the-beaten-track restaurant row around dinnertime and took a chance on a bistro called simply La Cuisine. We all agreed our meal there surpassed our lunchtime meal - in every category except the price!

Even the kids gave Lyon two thumbs up for having the best playgrounds in France (something never mentioned in the tour books!).

However, they were not allowed to bring back tattoos, no matter how much they begged...

It was late when we left Lyon, which meant we also had the opportunity to see its active nightlife along the beautiful square and wide boulevard surrounding the opera.

As we’ve said so many times on this trip, Lyon is a place we could see spending much more time exploring.

12

Annecy

We had heard that Annecy is one of the most beautiful cities in the area, and so we set out to see if the rumours were true. And since Maggie’s sister Mary was also in Annecy, we looked forward to linking up with her there.

Well, Annecy didn’t let us down. Set around a beautiful turquoise lake nestled in amongst the Alps, the town is known as the Venice of France, because of the canals that divide the old town.  It really is amazingly beautiful.

To nobody’s surprise, it’s filled with tourists at this time of year (including us!) but we enjoyed a meal along one of the canals, and then we wandered around town with Mary, who gave us a personal tour of the town she loves the best.

Mary’s tour included her favourite ice cream shop (to the kids’ delight), and apparently she wasn’t alone in her opinion. The line-up was huge! And as for the ice cream? We all agreed Mary was right.

There were also quite a few street musicians and performers.

Our tour finished with a stroll along the boardwalk by the lake, where we enjoyed the beautiful views, and the kids (and Kate) worked off some of their sugar-induced energy.

And of course Michael found the perfect opportunity for a little practical joke on Tristan while he was in one of his favourite positions...

Maison d'Izieu

En route to Annecy, we went to the Maison d’Izieu. This house is now a museum, but from 1943 to 1944, it was a home for Jewish children to stay in, until some escape was found for them. The children came from various countries throughout Eastern Europe and North Africa.

An incredibly passionate and knowledgeable young man gave us a tour.  We later learned he was in his second month of a training placement for his studies in the tourism industry.

This home, founded by a Polish couple, was in operation for 15 months, during which it was a haven for the 300 children who passed through it.

 

Those who ran the house also helped many children escape to neighbouring countries. But while they were there, the children led happy lives.

They were well-fed and able to run and play in the beautiful surroundings.

Most of what we know about life at the house comes from the letters that the children wrote to their parents along with drawings produced by the children while staying at the home.

However, on April 6^th of 1944, the infamous Klaus Barbi rounded up 44 children and 6 adults and sent them to Auschwitz. Of all those present at the house, only one child escaped the roundup by jumping out a window and hiding in a bush. Of all who were captured by the Nazis, only one teacher survived the camps. What made our experience especially moving was the way in which the guide brought it to a personal level, giving us details of the lives of some of the children and teachers who were at the home before the roundup.

Mario found this particular picture moving because the boy on the left, named Jean-Paul, has the same name and was born the same year as his own father who has just turned 80.

One very touching story involved a boy who loved his teacher. He noticed that every day she would call the children back to class after recess, but because they had such freedom to run and play (and, perhaps, because they chose not to hear her), it was hard to get all the children to come. One day, this young boy presented his teacher with a metal whistle to blow when it was time to come back to class. The teacher, who survived the war, treasured this trinket as it always reminded her of the children of Izieu. On that fateful day when the children and adults were rounded up, she happened to be away, making arrangements to help other children leave for safer homes. When she came back a few days later, the house was deserted, but her blouse, left on the clothesline, held the precious whistle, which she kept until her retirement, when she donated it back to the Maison.

A group of apprentice stonemasons in the area were so moved when the story came to light, they created this monument, using the whistle as a symbol of the mutual devotion of the teachers and children in the home.

It was heartening to hear the tour guide link the victims of this tragedy to victims of more recent genocides, in the hope that we may help to create a more equitable and peaceful tomorrow by recognizing the horrors of past crimes against humanity.

Wandering the peaceful grounds, and seeing Tristan and Joy play with the dogs who live on the grounds, only underscored our wish that his hopes are realized.