Today is one of our big driving days, but first we must wait for the arrival of our French bus. The well trained pilgrims gather in front of the Hotel and the coach appears on time much to the relief of our Group Leader.
Soon we are making the gradual ascent through many lengthy tunnels towards the French border and the foothills of the mountains. Mont Blanc towers above the highway over 11,000metres high, it and the numerous other snow capped peaks are simply breath-taking. The tunnels and bridges that traverse this part of the world are engineering masterpieces.
We enjoy a DVD "France beyond Paris" by Ian Gutheridge which helps the rest of the morning and our journey to the great city of Lyon. After dropping one of our two drivers at the train station and negotiating with the other driver who spoke no English we head for our destination of the Cathedral. This is not so easy we discover for our non English speaking driver also has no idea about traffic movements in the city and how to ascend the mountain to the magnificent Notre Dame Cathedral of Lyon.
Happily we make contact with our local guide, Nicholas, and meet him at the bottom of the mountain and he is able to guide the driver. After a quick lunch we begin the tour of this amazing Cathedral. We began by touring the massive crypt which carried themes of sin, heaviness and darkness. It is brilliantly done because the architecture and art are perfectly matched.
The main church is extraordinary. Every inch is decorated with meaningful windows, stories of 2,000 years of Christianity, murals in Murano glass and tiles depicting some of the great events of church history. The artisans knew a great deal about the careful use of colour and gold highlights. It is hard to tear ourselves away from the Cathedral and the magnificent view we have from the lookout.
Our drive to Beaune is uneventful and pleasant, we arrive with a few minutes for some of the group to explore the town, they bring back to dinner reports of a delightful village. We all enjoy a raucous evening, great French cuisine and a drop or two of the local specialty!
After dinner there is time to explore the town on foot, but we wish we could stay longer...how often have we had that thought in the past week?
Soon we are making the gradual ascent through many lengthy tunnels towards the French border and the foothills of the mountains. Mont Blanc towers above the highway over 11,000metres high, it and the numerous other snow capped peaks are simply breath-taking. The tunnels and bridges that traverse this part of the world are engineering masterpieces.
We enjoy a DVD "France beyond Paris" by Ian Gutheridge which helps the rest of the morning and our journey to the great city of Lyon. After dropping one of our two drivers at the train station and negotiating with the other driver who spoke no English we head for our destination of the Cathedral. This is not so easy we discover for our non English speaking driver also has no idea about traffic movements in the city and how to ascend the mountain to the magnificent Notre Dame Cathedral of Lyon.
Happily we make contact with our local guide, Nicholas, and meet him at the bottom of the mountain and he is able to guide the driver. After a quick lunch we begin the tour of this amazing Cathedral. We began by touring the massive crypt which carried themes of sin, heaviness and darkness. It is brilliantly done because the architecture and art are perfectly matched.
The main church is extraordinary. Every inch is decorated with meaningful windows, stories of 2,000 years of Christianity, murals in Murano glass and tiles depicting some of the great events of church history. The artisans knew a great deal about the careful use of colour and gold highlights. It is hard to tear ourselves away from the Cathedral and the magnificent view we have from the lookout.
Our drive to Beaune is uneventful and pleasant, we arrive with a few minutes for some of the group to explore the town, they bring back to dinner reports of a delightful village. We all enjoy a raucous evening, great French cuisine and a drop or two of the local specialty!
After dinner there is time to explore the town on foot, but we wish we could stay longer...how often have we had that thought in the past week?
Very pleased to see it all running so smoothly - if only you had a French interpreter to chat with the bus driver....
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