Vieux Lyon and Croix Rousse: Roman ruins and traboules

After Paris, R and I were in Lyon to complete some paperwork. While there we decided to spend the remainder of our day wandering around Lyon's old city, Vieux Lyon, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. For an ancient history buff like me who studied Latin for years, I was in my element and happily entertained for hours walking and "trabouling" through the old city, learning about Lyon's ancient and not so ancient history.

Roman Lyon
Lugnudum, now Lyon, was established by the Romans in 43 B.C. and enjoyed prosperity for over 300 years as one of the most important Roman cities, behind Rome of course. Using Lugnudum as a base, the Romans expanded their empire into the rest of Europe. It was not all plunder and pillage though—while in Lugnudum, the Romans built aqueducts, two theaters, and an odeon.

French holidays

J’espère que vous avez passé un joyeuse Saint Valentin mes chéris!

R and I had a quiet Valentine's Day morning chez nous, each studying our own subject (him Cisco, and me my new Canon). Surprisingly, I was not as sore as I expected to be, a day following the 3.5 hour randonnée in Le Vuache. On Vday, gray clouds and lack of sun didn't deter us from going out for our daily walk. I felt a need to stretch out my leg muscles a little, not to mention my DSLR trigger finger too. For our walk, we chose nearby Grésin, where we had taken a fateful motorcycle ride last fall and gotten stuck in some muck and stones. This time, it was just our two feet that carried us across the Rhône onto le chemin des Espagnols (crossing the river via le pont de Grésin).