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Excited to be back to riding, I woke up earlier than expected and waited for sleepyhead Eric (who cycled 283 miles to my 0 over the past week). A few hours later we pulled away from our hotel. In the rain.
Getting out of Lyon is not very pretty, but we do see a new development at the very tip of the peninsula where the Saone and the Rhone come together.
The Musee des Confluences
And... several hours later Vienne is across the river.
We find a pedestrian bridge with a picturesque entry way to the city.
We had not stopped for a picnic lunch, you know, because of the rain. So as soon as we dropped our stuff at the hotel, the Ibis Budget Venne Sud, we found one of the common VietThaiChinese places for lunch.
Hello? The 1980s are calling and they want their shrimp crackers back!
And then we did the inevitable afternoon activity, walking around town in the rain.
Vienne dates back to Gallo-Roman times. Here's the gate to the Forum
With some charming faces carved into it.
Half-timbered houses (now with kebab shops)
And creative murals incorporating medieval architectural details.
Vienne also has one of the only two remaining intact Roman temples in France. (Your may remember, readers, that the other one is in Nimes and we sort on the last bike trip.)
Finally, soggy and schlepped out, we ducked into the cathedral (actually it is now an ex-cathedral as the seat of the diocese has moved to Grenoble.) The building itself was not as impressive as others we've seen, but it did have some interesting details that you don't see typically in a church or Cathedral.
Like this genie lamp
And this stone detail of the signs of the zodiac
For dinner we decided to seek out our last traditional three course French menu and wound up at Le Provence.
The specialty of the house was...
But we opted for some of our traditional French favorites. Salade chevre chaud for Eric and Lyonnaise for Arah...
Magret de canard (sorry Dan!) for E
and salmon with leeks and way too creamy sauce for A...
and panna Cotta for E and chocolate gateau for A.
With this we say goodbye to our three-course French supper bombs and look forward to saying hello to Italian carbo loading!
We would also like to say goodbye to our rain gear, but it was not to be this night. It was pouring as we walked home.
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