Day 2

Day 2,

The day started at half past six in the morning when each of us woke up at our families in order to make it in time for school. We looked forward to a long day with many experiences. After meeting up at school we took the train to “old Lyon”. One of the things we noticed was different from Köping was the incredible heat in the crowded trains and there was no air conditioning.

When we reached Lyon we met a guide who was going to give us a guided tour of old Lyon in which we would see Cathédrale Saint Jean, painted walls and hidden passages (des traboules).

These are some of the things we learned about today:

Cathédrale Saint Jean is a Catholic church. Every December there is a lights festival in Lyon. The tradition began on December 8, 1643, when the people of Lyon placed lit candles in their windows. Many still do today.

Painted walls are another typical feature of Lyon, which you can see everywhere. These painted walls represent well-known people from Lyon.

Two of our French friends walked up to the wall and gave the person in the picture a tribute, which caught our attention and we asked who the person was. As it turned out the painted person on that wall was a famous football player of “Olympique Lyonnais”.

The day continued with a long walk up to a Roman theatre where we had a cozy picnic with all exchange students. The theatre was really interesting to see because it is so old, but still so well preserved.

After that, we went up a so-called funiculaire (a mountain railway) to get to the basilica Fourvière. The view over the entire Lyon was magnificent.

Then we took a boat to the museum La Confluence. It is a modern museum situated where the two rivers Rhône and Saône meet (get married). There they have many different exhibitions about the origin, history, and future of mankind.

It was now six o’clock in the afternoon, but we still wanted to do something with the whole group, so we decided to take the tram to a shopping center where we had a very nice evening.

This day turned out to be long, educational, but also very funny.

/ Khadija Benay, Eline Lönnroth 16NA