Lyon, France: The French Resistance, Closed Stores and Malfunctioning Google Maps Arrows

 Yesterday, we arrived at the ship but we have yet to take off, in order for us to enjoy the city of Lyon, the foodie capital of France. (As if we need more reason to eat). There are only 104 people on the ship, giving it an intimate feel and making it easier for a person like me to chit-chat at least once with almost everyone!

This morning Bob and I went on a walking tour of this fascinating city.  While I knew a lot about Lyon’s pivotal role in the French Resistance thanks to the many, many historical fiction novels I have read about World War II and again, thanks to what I now realize was an excellent World History teacher I had in 9th grade. I did not know that it was the silk capital for hundreds of years and that the first organized labor attempts took place in Lyon.  I also had no idea just how hilly the city is and along with its streets and streets of cobblestones, the ibuprofen will no doubt be making a guest appearance later.

When visiting another country, I try my best to recognize and embrace the differences between our American culture and the culture of where I am visiting.  My biases are most likely to rear their ugly heads when trying to understand how local economies advance when opening store hours appear to be at the whim of the proprietor. Our walking tour began at 10 am and our knowledgeable guide, Paul, repeatedly said that the city and the neighborhoods we visited were very quiet because it was so early in the morning.  By 11 am many coffee shops were just beginning to open, begging the question as to what the Lyonnese people do to wake up in the morning? My God, by11 am at home, I have drank  a whole pot of coffee.  A fellow tourist asked Paulwhat time the coffee shops opened and he said vaguely, “Oh, you know, soon..” 

And forget about other types of stores.  Just before noon, I noticed a few opening up at about the same time the restaurants were opening for lunch.  I assume that these stores would stay open for a while, but would need to close shortly thereafter for lunch. We had a tour full of people just itching to spend money with nowhere to spend it. 

As the walking tour we took this morning was separate from our cruise offerings, we had to find our way back to the ship.  We took a cab but there was a big language problem between us and the cab driver. He spoke no English and although Bob had four years of high school French, he only remembers how to say, “It is cold,” “It is hot,” and “Jacques is at the pool.” Therefore, explaining that we needed to get on a ship docked on the Saoine River was no easy feat.   The cab driver was able to explain to us with great hand and arm movements that he couldn’t get us to the river but we were close and we told him with equal rapid hand and arm movements that we could walk the rest of the way. We thought that it wouldn’t be too hard because we had Google Maps. We were wrong.

I don’t know if it is us, but sometimes that Google Maps arrow just decides not to move even after pushing “Go” numerous times.  It also frequently takes you on.a route that is nonsensical. Following a now functioning arrow, we initially began walking away from the river until finally after quite a while, we seemed to be heading in the right direction. When we finally arrived at the water, nothing looked familiar, including the lack of a docked small ship.  I had no idea of the length of the Saoine River, but I did not want to spend the rest of the day walking up and down  the river bank looking for our ship!  It was past 1 pm and as we trudged south, Bob said, “It’s a good thing we’re not leaving the dock until 10:15 tonight! 

Finally, we met a woman who knew the same hand signals as our cab driver and was able to explain that we were not far from the ship.  It turns out that our ship was just down the road from where the cab driver let us out of his car. Next time, we will try Waze.