Webquest 3: Lyon to Pérouges

Lyon is a beautiful city on the Rhône and Saône rivers in southeast France, and the second largest city in France next to Paris. If you visit between December 8 and December 12 you can catch the Fête des Lumieres, during which Lyon is lit up in a huge number of colorful light displays.

Lyon has architecture dating back to the roman times. First on my list: the Ancient Theatre of Fourvière.

Lyon is also famous as a culinary center, but almost all of their famous regional foods contain meat. How frustrating. I went to a local restaurant and purchased Quenelle de Brochet, a pike and cream sauce dish. I also bought Cervelle de Canut, a white cheese with herbs, shallots, salt, pepper, olive oil and vinegar and some bread to spread it on. The region is also famous for local wines, so I ordered a bottle of Beaujolais, a red wine that is lighter and sweeter than most reds, more like a white wine.

After eating, I went for a walk through the Parc de la Tête d'Or. A huge park in middle of Lyon. It contains a lake, a zoo, and a botanical garden.

There are a couple of famous Lyonnais I'd like to mention briefly. First electronic musician Jean Michel Jarre. Jarre has made a huge amount of music over the last 40 years, and is one of the most popular musicians in France. He has put on a number of free outdoor concerts that had audiences that number in the millions, and this one in his hometown of Lyon was performed for more than 800,000 people and the pope. Jarre used the lighting systems from the festival of lights synchronized to his music to turn the whole city into part of his stage show.

Another famous Lyonnais drew the image below. It is not a hat.

The above page is from The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. In addition to being a writer, he was a pilot, and disappeared without a trace during a reconnaissance flight along the southern coast of France in World War II. Wreckage of his plane was only recently discovered. The airport in Lyon is named after him. Gare de Lyon Saint-Exupéry is a TGV (very fast train) station connected to the Airport in Lyon. It is an interesting piece of architecture too.

Having seen some of Lyon, I drove out into the countryside. Nearby to Lyon is Cloister la Tourette, a monastery designed by french architect Le Corbusier and Greek/French musician and architect Iannis Xenakis.

Also Nearby Lyon is Pérouges, a small walled in village from the middle ages. This is a popular destination for Lyonnais, as well as a common place to shoot movies set in the middle ages.