La Croix Rousse et ses Traboules

Having a coffee break at Place Carnot, or a beer break for Mark

We have internet this week (so far) at Lyon Bleu, so I can post a new blog a little more easily than the last one.  Aside from apartment searching, we have managed to explore a little more of the city by participating in some of the excursions offered through Mark’s language training.  We took a small boat cruise to see the île barbe (a small island- and by small, I mean super tiny- on the outskirts of the city), and we explored the traboules of the colline Croix Rousse. 

Photo of the Barbe Island from the boat

Barbe Island

Photo of Fourviere Hill from the boat

Photo of some of the former silkworker workshops-- more about these later-- from the boat.

There are two hills in Lyon—la Croix Rousse and Fourvière.  The Croix Rousse is called the hill that works, because of all the silkworkers who situated themselves there, and Fourvière is called the hill that prays because of the large basilica and monasteries that were established there.  Here are some photos from our exploration of the traboules (silk roads) of Croix Rousse:

View of Lyon from the center of all the traboules.

Mark with Lyon in the background-- sorry it is so zoomed in on him; my pictures never turn out as good as the ones he takes!!

This is a view of the traboules from a center courtyard in the center of one of the buildings.  The point of them was to make the journey from their workshops to market easier to cross; hence all the stairs winding down.  These were created in about 1801 in order to house the new silk sewing machines-- the ancient workshops in Vieux Lyon were too small to house the new machines.

Looking up the stairs into one of the traboules.

The pastel colored buildings, which are all over Lyon, are the old silk workshops.  You can tell which ones they are, not only by the color, but also by the proportions-- the windows are taller and uniform in size.  The workshops in the Croix Rousse area housed about 30,000 silk workers alone; there were about 100,000 of them in Lyon during the 1800s.  The machines were so loud you could not have a conversation in the street below the workshops during their heyday.  The machines make a lovely sound in French:  "bistanclaque-pan."  C'est joli, non??  That sound is more fun that the sound a rooster makes in French-- cocorico!!

Roman ruins can be found in various locations around Lyon.  This amphitheater is located among the traboules, and was discovered long after those on the colline Fourviere.  Historians believe it is located so far from the rest of the Roman city ruins due to the dangers of releasing animals for gladiator fights so close to their own city.  This amphitheater was used not only for gladiator fights and performances, but also for debates among Roman politicians and the Gaulois, the original people of Lyon, in order to find a common law to rule among the two.

View of another center courtyard in one of the traboules.

I suppose I should share the not so fun part of our trip, now that all has been resolved.  On Thursday evening of last week, I noticed that I was missing a blue expandable folder that contained important documents needed for our OFII visit (this is the office we need to go through to pay our residency tariff now that we do not need to apply for a carte de séjour at the Prefecture).  By important documents, I mean our birth certificates (originals and copies), copies of our passports, our marriage license (original and copies), translations of all Mark’s school transcripts, Rotary documents, etc.  I realized that the last time I had seen it was at the airport, at the lost luggage office where I had to go to fill out paperwork so that my bag could be sent to me.  I had to take out several documents from the blue folder in order to complete the necessary paperwork, and I realized I must have set it down and left it there (panic mode!!).  After discussing options with Mark and Dorothea, and several phonecalls (to offices where no one answered, even after 10:30 a.m.), it was decided that I should go to the airport the next day and exhaust all possible places it could be.  I finally did speak with someone at the lost and found office, who told me that he had nothing under my name.  Off to the airport I went (luckily there is a shuttle from the city center that was not too expensive—25 euro round trip).  Long story short, after wandering around searching everywhere and asking everyone who worked there, I finally decided to go to the lost and found office anyway, just to double check.  And voila, the man working there that afternoon was much kinder than the person I had spoken to on the phone, and he found my folder immediately, under the exact name I had given over the phone.  Whew!!  Mark and I decided that things in France operate much the same as in the U.S.—when it comes to bureaucracy, it all depends on who you talk to at the window.  We just have to keep trying until we get a reasonable person to help!

This week we will journey to the colline Fourvière to explore the gardens and churches.  Mark does not have class tomorrow (it is Ascension, a Catholic holiday recognized in France), so we may take a day trip to Annecy with some of his classmates.  Photos and a blog update will follow soon!

Apartment search update:  We think we have one!  We have visited several apartments (we definitely have become familiar with Lyon; both the good neighborhoods and the not-so-good ones, through our exhausting apartment searches), and we found one for a reasonable price, with everything we need included.  The current resident is a student who will be leaving to study in Switzerland for the year, so our stay of 10 months is convenient for her and her parents.  We will meet with them soon to work out details; she sent me an e-mail to say she will reserve it for us, but we will not be completely satisfied until we have signed a lease. 

A plus!