Boat Trip on the Soane

Last Wednesday we took a boat trip on the Soane river to see the city from a different viewpoint.  It was a glorious day, and while I left the apartment without my Nikon, my cell phone stepped in nicely for the photographs.

The Saone river goes between the old city (Vieux Lyon) and the Presque Isle (which I think means "almost an island").  The "almost island" is created by the land between the Saone and Rhone rivers.  They meet at the Confluence, which is an area of wonderful new architecture, and capped by the Confluence Museum.  Croix-Rousse, where we live, is either in the northern part of the Presque-Isle, or north of the Presque-Isle, but still between the two rivers.

This shows the Croix-Rousse plateau, well above the river, where we live.

We got a great view of the St. Jean Cathedral from the river side.

We sailed up the river as far as the Fort St. Jean, which goes from the level of the river all the way up to Croix-Rousse.

We turned around at the fort and headed downriver.  Along the way we passed ramparts that dated from as far back as when the Romans occupied the area, and the town they built was called Lugdunum.

The lower end of the boat trip, as we neared the confluence of the two rivers took us by the new architecture at the lower end of the Presque-Isle.  The orange and green cubes were designed by the same architect, obviously.

I think the holes in the buildings are fascinating. There are also other interesting buildings in the same area.

Look carefully at the last picture, above.  What looks like reflections in the glass side of the building isn't that at all.  It is a translucent painting of scenes from Lyon.  How innovative is that?

Finally we reach the Confluence Museum, which is in the park at the confluence of the two rivers.  It is said that the architect wanted the building to look like clouds.

My view is that it looks more like a "Star Wars" type of space ship.  Whatever, it is a very interesting building.

A bientot.