France: Lyon, Thiers
The French take their cycling seriously. Even though we are a long way from the 'Tour de France", there are hill roads with these signs every kilometre.
We've selected No Tolls and shortest route on the GPS and are rewarded with some magnificent back roads, although a couple are pretty scary. This town had an open barn, with a sign, that sort of translated to "fill your bottle and leave the right money" For white wine.
Lyon was really relaxed. Not a tourist town. We were impressed by the town and the transport. The Cathedral dominates the town from on top of a hill, reached by funicular railway. The walls have some of the best mosaics we've seen.
Roman amphitheatre that is still used. They are preparing for a concert for that evening but there is a huge wind. A bough falls off a tree and lands, firstly on a car roof, and then between Frank and myself. We are very lucky it doesn't hit us.
This was a very powerful 1889 statue by Fontaine Bartholdi who did the NY Statue of Liberty in 1886. The horses were so realistic. Then we noticed the hooves have claws!
We stopped for coffee in Thiers. We spent far longer there than we planned. The town was fascinating. It appears it is famous for the knives it produces. Some of them were works of art, and cost over $1000
Amazing architecture. Every little gap was plugged by a building of some description.
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