Day Five: Bye to Paris; Beaune visit Medieval Hospital for the poor; lyon for tour and dinner5/14/2018 Today we left Paris after a short tour around another part of the city and headed toward Lyon, where we would spend the night with a lunch stop and tour of a medieval hospital for the poor in Beaune. A few things from our day The equivalent of the Green Party is in control of Paris so there are more recycling bins around the town but the big controversy is the closing of the river drive to vehicle traffic. It is now bicycle and walking. That makes for more traffic on the other streets. And the traffic is really bad now due to the train strike (luckily, we decided to fly in stead of taking the train from Paris to Nice--we have heard some stories of fellow travelers who have had to pay outrageous prices for plane tickets last-minute due to the train strike.). But the traffic did cost us some of our leisure time in Beaune and Lyon, so we felt rushed all day. Our tour guide told us about the 7 different regions of France that all have their own food and cultural differences. She also said that there used to be 21 different areas but they were reorganized in January , so she isn't even familiar with all of them yet. The poor hospital in Beaune was started in the 1500s by a man and wife who felt sorry for the. poor who had no care. The nuns ran the hospital with benefactors paying for food and supplies. To this day, local benefactors pay for the upkeep of the museum. Originally, multiple patients were in a single bed. We saw the medical implements and pharmaceuticals of the day, scary. We had a quick lunch at a grab and go bakery (cheese and tomato sandwich with a walnut tart) and then headed to Lyon. We learned that Beaune is known for its Burgundy wine, and some did sample it. We leaned that Sunday/Monday were the weekend in Paris. Shops and many nice restaurants are closed except what our guide called the "international" shops, such as McDonalds and United Colors of Benneton, etc. In the old towns and in the old parts of Paris, high rises and modern buildings are prohibited. Any renovations are limited to the inside, which can be modern, but the outside must be keeping with the age in which the structure was built. So that means using wood and plaster. Therefore, due to the wet climate, the outsides must be redone every 10 years because of mildew. Most of the older buildings are 9 stories or fewer. In Lyon, 5-6. The floors start with zero for the main floor, which traditionally held shops, followed by the first floor, which often had a nice balcony. This story was called the "piano nobile" which meant for the "floor of the nobles), so the rich folks lived here. The bourgeois lived higher. The poorer you were, the higher you lived, having to walk more stairs. The floor under the roof was reserved for servants and had many living there with on shared bath. As we travelled, we enjoyed the countryside. There weren't as many castles as we were used to in other European countries, but the green hillsides were pretty and dotted with white Charolais cattle. In Lyon, we had a tour of the old town with a local specialist Christian. he was quite funny and entertaining. He showed us some of the 300 secret passageways that led from one street to another through housing centers. He also showed how several houses could share a central --usually outside--staircase, so not to take up so much space since space is scarce in the city. He also said that Lyon was the site of the first printing press in French. (He said that the IKEA catalog has now outpaced printing of the Bible!) An interesting note: the word "glacier" means ice cream here. So glacier is on my mind!
2 Comments
Camille
5/14/2018 07:51:01 pm
Looks like you're having fun in spite of technology. Can't wait to share travel stories!
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Katie
5/15/2018 01:48:36 pm
Im having a challenge: wifi from camera to tablet and then downsizing and uploading to blog. It's throwing me off a bit but still trying to post. It helps me remember.
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