Place des Minimes

The two days there has been a steadily increasing number of Wallaby and Welsh supporters in town - plus the odd bunch of kilt wearing Scots, All Blacks and Poms.
We did a walking trip which provided a lot of interesting historical and current facts:
The city has 400 “traboules” which are corridors built through houses, connecting common courtyards, that allows people to move quickly up and down the city without going along the streets in the open. This was initially down by the Romans (Lyon is on the site of Lugdunum the Roman capital of Gaul empire) to allow easy access from the high hills to the Rivers Saone and Rhone. They were continued in the Middle Ages by the canuts - the silk weavers - to allow the moving of their expensive silks without getting exposed to the elements. They remain to this day and were of great use during WWII for the resistance to move secretly around the city whilst under Nazi rule. Most are now private - such as the entrance to our lodge - but there are public ones you can enter.
The city has a lot of street art - in particular small sculptures on buildings around the place. The artists are celebrities here - one started doing tile mosaics in holes in building walls or pavements - the city now pays him to do it!
Every street seems to have two or three patisseries! I’ve never seen or eaten so many amazing treats in my life.
The Art Museum here has a fine collection of antiquities plus of course paintings from all eras (including a Brett Whiteley) - you’ll see in the pictures the scale of some the old canvases.
So now it’s do or die for the Wallabies - nothing but a win is sufficient so the tension is building. The French have been openly hostile to the Wallabies in both matches so far - booing us and cheering our opposition. I think a lot of it is due to Eddie Jones who apparently insulted the French when he was England’s coach - or maybe it was Scott Morrison and the submarine debacle! And of course any England fans hate him as well so we are up against it!
Anyway we are hoping for a turnaround tonight - stay tuned!Read more