John in Lyon Day 2 continued

As we mentioned in the previous posting, we rode the funicular up Fourvière Hill.  We could see The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière as soon as we left the funicular station.  (With thanks to John for most of these photos.)  The Basilica was built by the grateful people of Lyon to thank the Virgin Mary for saving Lyon from invasion during the Franco-Prussian war. It was built with private funds between 1872 and 1896.

The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière

John took this photo of the very impressive altar.

And, here is the statue of the Virgin Mary blessing Lyon.

And, yes, the view is amazing!

Here's John with that remarkable view behind him.

Do you see the Cathédrale Saint-Jean down the hill?
(Hint - It's at about 5 o'clock in this photo.)

The view from a different vantage point.

But, there's more to see up on this hill!  Lyon was, as you will remember, the Roman capitol of Gaul, and the Romans built two amphitheaters on this hill.  The larger one is still used for concerts and other events.  In fact, we have been to a concert in the larger one, and, yes, those seats are hard!

John took this photo of us with the amphitheaters in the background.

A great view of the larger amphitheater.

Up close and personal view of the amphitheater.

Since it was time for lunch, we stopped at La Ficelle, a cafe at the base of the hill and near the entrance to the funicular.

We started with a nice Rose while we perused the menu.

There's an interesting story about the next photo.  Anna typically assembles the blog postings, and she had no idea how this photo fit into the story.  Then she was reminded that John had mentioned seeing a particularly attractive woman working in the florist shop across the street. I believe his words were "hot babe." So, after lunch John and David decided the walk over to the shop so that they could get a glimpse of her.  The florist shop is next to a grocery store, and John decided to take this photo of the grocery store display as "cover."  Unfortunately, she had disappeared inside the shop.

You have to admit, it's a nice display.  😉

After a leisurely walk back through Vieux Lyon and a little souvenir shopping, we got on Anna's favorite C3 bus and returned to freshen up a bit for the next stage.  Our final destination on Day 2 was The Café Juliette for a large plate of charcuterie and a bottle of Jolie Fille, a very nice Rose.  (Jolie Fille means pretty, lovely, or beautiful girl in French.  So somehow the wine choice seemed like a fitting way to end our day.)

More adventures coming tomorrow, Day 3.