Paul Bocuse - encore une fois

Roaming around the "old city" of Lyon you quickly realize that it is pretty "touristy", but I guess that is what we are.  We took the funicular railway, through the mountain, to the top of Fourviere hill, atop which the locals built Notre Dame de Fourviere, a magnificent basilica, itself topped with a golden Statue of "Notre Dame".  Several centuries ago, Lyon was spared from several bouts of plague and enemy attacks, prompting the construction of the basilica.  Interestingly, the Lyonnaise promised to build the basilica after the city was spared from an initial plague however, it took several more disasters from which the city was spared, to spur on construction.  I guess inertia is not just a modern phenomena.

We hiked back down the hill to the site of two Roman theatres, dating to BC, which are still in use today for outdoor summer concerts.  Maybe the Romans should be consulted regarding the renovation of Ontario's crumbling infrastructure, maybe starting with the Gardiner Expressway!  Surely we can get at least a couple of decades out of that stuff.  The Roman sites have a commanding view out over the modern day city of Lyon and would be an amazing site at which to experience a concert.

As always, dining figures prominently into a day in Lyon and it was back to our old friend Paul Bocuse for lunch.  4 of his local bistros are named: Le Nord; Le Sud, L'Est, and L'Ouest and, I will let you guess in which areas of the city each is located.  We selected Le Sud for lunch, which is conveniently just around the corner from our hotel.  The fare is far simpler than our dinner the other night and MUCH more reasonably priced as well.  However, the flavours and the service certainly carry the signature of an expert restauranteur.

Tomorrow we head for Paris and serious troop reinforcements.  Our Brockville friends will begin arriving and massing in Paris for our assault on Burgundy.  God help the crew of our chartered barge.  I suspect that even they will have a week to remember ;-)

The pics are:

1- A tiny golden "Notre Dame" looks out from the top of a dome over the city of Lyon below

2- The funicular speeds up inside the mountainto the top of Fourviere hill

3- Those Romans knew how to build.  How much modern infrastructure will still be in use in 2 millennia?

3- The "old city" is a web of narrow streets and alleys full of bouchons, bistros and restaurants 

4- "Le Sud" de Monsieur Bocuse

5- Madame est bien heureux!