At last, we have found a Museum with no queues! We walked straight in, paid our €5 admission, and continued to the reception area, where we were given an audio guide to listen to as we walked around. Notice I said given! At every other Musee we have been to an audio guide is extra! Usually another €5. It came complete with an iPad, and included a few videos we could also watch.
This Museum was begun 20 years after the end of the Second World War, when the residents of Lyon realized that the younger generation was growing up with no knowledge of the events that had taken place during the war.
It is such a comprehensive museum, beginning with the years leading up to WW2, and finishing with a wonderful movie of the liberation of Lyon.
Mostly it is the history of the French Resistance though, the deportation being of the members of the resistance who were captured.
A radio transmitter used by members of the resistance to tune into the BBC in London for coded messages. Some of these messages gave information to enable parachute drops into France with containers carrying goods. Below is a sample of a container and a parachute.
The alley ways, or traboulles that I described yesterday, were used for secretly moving around parts of Lyon.
When the resistance members were captured, if not weren't summarily executed or tortured, they were deported to prison camps in Germany , with this sort of prison garb.
There is also an area dedicated to the 80,000 Jewish people of Lyon who lost their lives during the war.
There are a couple of reconstructions to show what life was like at that time in history, which were very interesting.
Altogether, a visit we enjoyed very much, and a quick walk saw us back onboard for lunch, and to get ready for our excursion to the medieval town of Perouges. The whole area was cobblestones, sources from the local River Ain, and as they were round river stones, very difficult to walk on. The buildings also were built of stone. The town once been completely enclosed by a huge wall, but the only part of that remaining was a church wall.
The street light s are set in the cobblestones, and the services such as electricity, water etc are hidden behind small shutters.
Once our walk was finished, we were invited to sample the local apple cider and a Galette de Perouges, which was more or less a delicious sweet pizza. I have recipe for this, so if you visit us sometime, you might get a treat !
The countryside we passed through on the way to Perouges was agricultural, growing sunflowers, corn, and fish farming in very large ponds, over 1000 in fact. They grow carp and pike in the ponds, 90% of which are privately owned. This summer the farmers lost on third of their fish due to the hot weather.
As we drove back through the streets of Lyon, we could see the basilica on the hill, with the mini "Eiffel tower" next to it.
Once we were back onboard, we were given a lecture by a French gentleman, about all manner of things French. The population here is 66 million, 82% of whom apparently don't like the current President! Unemployment is at 11%, but 25% among the youth. France has some 84 million tourists a year, a tourist being classified as someone who stays at least one night. He told us that French people buy things they don't need, with money they don't have ! The biggest expenditure of the state if the repayment of the national debt ! That spending comes before education, pensions and defense.
Dinner again was delicious, we had our first creme brûlée of the whole trip tonight. After dinner, it was the crew show for us, a little singing, comedy and a parody of Cinderalla.
If you have not seen or read "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" I would recommend it to you. How has it taken until now to enjoy a creme brulee?
ReplyDelete