Our next city we visited was Lyon. Centred between two rivers, the Saône and the Rhône, it’s a perfect mix of history and everyday life with cozy streets, good food, and cultural heritage.
Fourvière Hill
After our bus journey from Grenoble, we explored the Fourvière Hill area to see the famed Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière, which overlooks Lyon. It was incredibly gorgeous and impressive inside, but since we arrived right as Mass was starting, we quickly snapped a few photos and slipped out before accidentally joining the service.
We also saw some Roman ruins of an odeon/theatre nearby. When the Romans took over, they renamed the city Lugdunum, and it’s quite impressive to still see the ruins standing amidst modernity.
Movie Madness – Musée Lumière
My only must-do in Lyon was to visit the Musée Lumière, the home and museum of the famous Lumière brothers, Auguste and Louis, who “invented” modern cinema. They created the Cinématographe, which improved on Edison’s Kinetoscope and other early devices by allowing films to be projected to an audience rather than viewed individually through a peephole. The Cinématographe was a big leap because it was lightweight, portable, could both record and project, and made cinema a shared, theatrical experience. Omg, I am in my element right now.
The Lumière brothers created the first projected film in history (Workers Leaving the Factory), a 45-second video showcased to the public in 1895. They also famously showed Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station in 1896, where it is said that audiences ducked in fear as the train came toward the camera, thinking it was going to burst through the screen.
I also had the chance to interact with and explore other early moving picture inventions like the Praxinoscope (1877), which used mirrors to project images, and the even earlier Zoetrope (1834), which you looked through slotted holes to see a moving picture. There was a VERY impressive sculptural model by artist Émilie Tolot where figurines were placed on a rotating platform and paired with stroboscopic lighting to recreate the illusion of movement (much like early motion pictures).
Movie Madness Part Deux – Musée Cinéma et Miniature
I also visited the Musée Cinéma et Miniature to satisfy my modern cinephile obsession. This museum was a must for any film fan, as it houses a wealth of film props, costumes, practical effects, and memorabilia.
The first room was fantasy-themed with Harry Potter (costumes, wands, a pair of Harry’s glasses), Narnia (animatronic head of a satyr), The Dark Crystal (Kira’s costume), and Lord of the Rings props (Legolas’ ears, Uruk-hai prosthetics). It also had an homage to the ’80s/’90s and movie fandom of that era.
There was a room dedicated to Beetlejuice. Props of the Sandworm, the waiting room, and stop-motion models for when Barbara turned into a pterodactyl-type monster were some highlights.
I geeked out extremely hard in the small Star Wars area, which housed original items like an Ewok head, Leia’s bikini top, Han’s blaster, and Darth Vader’s helmet (originally from The Empire Strikes Back when Vader enters the Rebel base. Apparently, the design changed a bit after this scene, which makes this item a little more unique).
The rest of the rooms were a smorgasbord of different movie items. Some highlights from this mishmash included Mary Poppins’ umbrella, Lestat’s fake head when Claudia slices his throat (Interview with the Vampire), Edward Scissorhands’ aptly named hand, the hoverboard from Back to the Future Part II, the animatronic claw for the raptor from Jurassic Park (*click, click, click* on the floor), Robin Williams' mask for Mrs. Doubtfire, and the Queen Xenomorph from Aliens.
At the end, there was a cool room full of miniature sets (not for movies) that the artist Dan Ohlmann had created. They were incredibly detailed and about the height of one and a half of my hands and the length of my pointer finger to elbow. My favourite was one of a Natural History Museum.
Walking Tour
We did a walking tour on our second day there, exploring some street art, classical churches, and getting a good layout of La Croix-Rousse and Vieux Lyon (old town).
We learned a little more about street artists in Lyon on this walking tour. Pixel artists (not Invader!) like In the Woup, who creates pixelated Super Marios, and MifaMosa, who creates pixelated images representing street names (like putting a whale beside Place de la Baleine or a bottle of wine beside the sign for Rue Bouteille). There was also Zon, who creates monkey head sculptures, and Ememem, who creates mosaics covering up potholes (which I also think I stumbled upon in Dijon!).
Great Eats & Drinks in Lyon
Along with the two complimentary glasses of champagne at our hotel (plus a free breakfast — their attempt to make up for the sweltering AC situation, including one night when it didn’t work at all, ugh), we had a few really good dining experiences here. The first was at Betty’s Bar — if you can call beer and vibes dining, which we will. It was super cute, but due to everyone in France being on vacation in August, their chefs were away and therefore our dinner that night was… French fries! But the beers were tasty and perfect after a long travel day. Later that night, we went to Suzette Crêperie to satisfy my craving for another caramel crêpe. It all balances out with the 18k steps per day, right?
I also had a wonderful mushroom and cheese galette at La Table Brestoise, complete with a very French waiter/cook and a hilariously obvious ENGLISH menu. I continued this mushroom and cheese tradition for dinner that night with a quesadilla at the very yummy and Instagrammable Tiger Milk (you can take the Jill out of Mexico but not the Mexico out of Jill). Unfortunately, I think I was hitting a wall of exhaustion, and my tummy wasn’t feeling great, so I couldn’t fully enjoy the very delicious meal there.
Tomorrow we head to Paris for Jill’s last day, and I go to the Rock en Seine Music Festival to see Chappell Roan! Our trip is almost over!
