Downtown Lyon and the Birthplace of Cinema

Aside from the churches and their glorious architecture, Lyon has many great things to see and many great places to relax.  In the middle of town is the Place Bellecour, which is the largest clear (meaning no trees or grass) square in all of Europe.  In the center of the square stands the statue of Louis XIV, considered the greatest king of France.

The square is home to several cafés and is near several shopping and eating streets.  Underneath the square, as well as many other places in town, is a large parking garage.  Lyon has a good number of these underground parking lots, which I think is a great alternative to above-ground parking lots or garages.

As we walk north, we pass by another square, the Place des Terreaux, which lies in front of the town hall.

Near here is the Opéra National de Lyon, whose hybrid architecture is undoubtedly interesting.  A modern roof hangs over the classical-style building.  Atop the frieze are eight of the nine Greek muses.  Missing is Urania, who is the only muse who is not related to the arts performed in opera.

And next to the opera... another square!  These squares, along with the local cafés and restaurants are the most popular hangouts in Lyon.  I like the atmosphere here in Lyon because everyone is outside in the open air and the city is lively.

Here, we stopped for a quick beverage at a café.

Anybody interested in film history is likely familiar with the Lumière Brothers.  In the 1890's they developed the technologies that allow for filmmaking and film viewing as we know it today, and are often credited as being the "inventors" of cinema.  These brothers were from Lyon, and lived in this gigantic house that is now a museum.

Inside the museum are many of the cameras the Lumières developed.  Among the more notable ones is the original cinématographe, which uses perforations in the film roll as an advancing mechanism - a technology that is still used today.

Here is a still camera using an array of prisms and mirrors that the Lumières used to create 360º pictures for their panopticon.

Outside the mansion is a reconstruction of a hangar where the Lumières' first film was shot.  This hangar, which was originally a factory for the Lumières' employees, was destroyed and rebuilt as a movie theater.  This photo is taken from the same exact spot the first movie was shot from!  The frame of the shot is indicated by some blue lights on the floor, which are not too visible in the daylight.  In front of the hangar is a wall with a still image from that film.

Many famous directors make it a point to make a "pilgrimage" to the Lumières' house.  If for some reason I end up becoming a famous movie director, I'll already have that task in the books!

Churches and More Churches!

Lyon is an old city with a rich religious history.  Churches are famous all throughout France and Europe, and it is not all too surprising that the biggest tourist attractions in Lyon are the churches.

The most famous church in Lyon is the Basilique de Notre-Dame de Fourvière, which lies on top of a hill overlooking the city.  It is right next to a smaller-scale replica of the Eiffel Tower, which is the highest point in Lyon and serves as a TV and radio antenna.

M. Robert told us that while tourists love this basilica, the natives of Lyon hate it.  Unlike the other churches in the area which are Romanesque and date back to the 11th century, this church has much more recent Byzantine-style architecture and is much too ornate for the locals tastes.  They refer to the church as looking like "an elephant lying on its back."  Can you see it?

Still, there's no denying that the church is architecturally and artistically impressive, starting with the facade,

and then the upper-floor church (there is another church area in the lower floor),

whose walls are completely lined with colorful paintings.

I think the basilica is - at the very least - cool to look at, but I can understand why it can be an eyesore for those who see it a lot.

At the bottom of the Fourvière hill and in the heart of Vieux Lyon is the Primatiale Saint-Jean Baptiste, which dates back from the 11th century but has needed numerous restorations since then.  There seems to be something major going on with the left tower right now.

The highlight of this cathedral is an astronomical clock with some crazy mechanisms (especially on the lower face).  At every hour, it chimes and some toys come out to dance.

M. Robert's favorite church is the Église Saint-Nizier, which dates all the way back to the 5th century, but has also needed many reconstructions throughout the ages.  In fact, if you look at the two spires, the one on the left is simple and made with tiles, while the one on the right is much more ornate and made of stone.

Just like the Primatiale Saint-Jean Baptiste, this church has a more traditional Roman-style architecture, which is simple and elegant, as opposed to the complex, ornate style of the Fourvière Basilica.

The centerpiece of the church is a beautiful altar.  Behind the altar, you can also see organ pipes, which also distinguishes this church from the Fourvière Basilica, which uses an electric organ.

The best way to enjoy Lyon is to just walk through the streets and enjoy life as the Lyonnais do.  It is not really a touristy city, and is not designed to be one in the way that other cities are.  Still, it does have its own share of "tourist attractions," which don't disappoint.

Tomorrow, I'll be wrapping up the recap of my visit to Lyon with some more on what to see and what to do in the city!

Views from Lyon

Let's start off by taking a look around the city and its streets before getting into the more specific attractions.  Lyon is the second largest city in France by population, and it is continuously expanding.  The city lies at the intersection of the Rhône and Saône rivers.

The best view of the city comes from the Fourviere hill, which is west portion of the city.  This hill is home to a very ornate Byzantine-style basilica, and is accessible by a funicular.

There are many other great views from the riverside.  Here you can see a pedestrian bridge over the Saône, with the Croix-Rousse area of the city in the background.  On this other big hill lie the historic houses where silk was made.

Below the Fourviere hill is Vieux Lyon (Old Lyon), which is, unsurprisingly, the original city.

Many of the buildings there are preserved from their original form, while others, which were presumably damaged or destroyed, are restored in colorful stucco.

Vieux Lyon is notorious for having poorly planned streets, most of which run parallel to the river, and few of which run perpendicular.  Instead, people walked towards and away from the river through traboules, which are passageways that ran through the buildings.

These traboules also double as corridors to access homes, which are inside these buildings!  See the stairs?

The expanding and heavily industrialized part of the city is on the east, but the heart of the city lies in between the two rivers, on the Presqu'île, which means "peninsula."  In this area, restaurants and shops are found everywhere.

As we walk along the banks of the Rhône, we can get a good glimpse of Presqu'île, along with some docked boats along our side of the river.  These retired boats are actually permanently parked there and are used as bars and nightclubs.

Other boats are used as party boats and sail along the rivers.  We saw a few of those, including this one, which was hosting a wedding reception of some sort.

The streets of Presqu'île are eclectic, mixing old and new architecture, but always vibrant.  There are many fake facades scattered throughout this part of town.  These trompes l'oeil are famous worldwide, and tourists sometimes come specifically to see these walls.  Even in person, I first thought these stores on the wall were real.

See the red bikes?  These are rental bikes!  These stations are found all across town, and you can just take a bike and return it to any other station.

Tomorrow: Hotspots in Lyon, Part 1!

Lyon, Part 1

Today was unbelievable.  By some stroke of great fortune, Fernando and I met a very nice old man named Robert at a restaurant here in Lyon.  We were sitting next to him in a local bouchon (the Lyonnais term for a restuarant) and we started talking, first in French, and then in English (so Fernando could understand too!).  He was a well-traveled, native Lyonnais looking for something fun and relaxing to do on a Saturday afternoon, so he told us he would take us around town.  Indeed, he took us to all the greatest places to visit in Lyon, and we had some great conversations.  In the afternoon, Fernando and I wanted to buy him a drink, but instead he bought drinks for us!  Both of us are still in shock over how nice Monsieur Robert was, how lucky we were to run into him, and what an excellent day we had in beautiful Lyon.

Anyway, I have enough to share from today to fill up about three posts, so let's start from the beginning.  I promised pictures of our "hostel," so here they are.  As you can see, it is much nicer than anything we expected, especially for the very low price.  The hotel was also situated nicely - a very quick walk to the metro station.

Speaking of the metro system, Lyon definitely has the most efficient metro system I have seen.  There are four metro (subway) lines, four tram lines, and dozens of bus lines.  The subway and trams are completely automated, and don't even have drivers!  The buses run largely on electric power from wires hanging above, and the bus stations have digital displays that tell when the next bus is coming.

The metro is very modern, and the stations and cars are all kept pristine.

The Lyonnais are good about paying for the metro.  On the buses, entry is only allowed on the front door, so no one can get in without paying.  On the trams where all the doors open, they can tell if someone doesn't pay... when that happens, there is a beeping noise and a flashing yellow light, and the tram doesn't leave.  The people here are very polite and orderly about getting on the metro, which is a cultural difference between Lyon and Turin, where basically everyone gets on the tram without paying and revenue comes from fining those they catch without tickets.

Speaking of politeness, the people here are extremely polite, even though our knowledge of French is limited.  Not a single person here addressed me as tu, which is the familiar form of "you."  Instead, everyone always used vous, which is the polite form.  This, too, is different from Italy, where the people are more casual and use tu when talking to younger people (or even older people!).

Fernando and I started off our day with some sightseeing, but I will save those sights for the subsequent posts.  Instead, I will skip straight to lunch.  Downtown, there are endless amounts of restaurants, and there are even streets like this that are entirely comprised of restaurants.

After all, Lyon is considered the gastronomical capital of France.  We stopped for lunch at a local bouchon and had a meal from the menu lyonnais, which consisted of two entrees and a dessert.

For our first entree, Fernando and I both had a salade lyonnaise, which was a salad topped with the tastiest pig ears I have ever tried.

For our second entree, I had saucisson, which means sausage, but is a Lyonnaise specialty.  Fernando had andouillete, which is a sausage made from chopped tripe.  Both were impressively good.  We ended our lunch with a gâteau lyonnais, which was a rich cake with apples and pralines.  I also tried a coffee, whose strength was between the American-style drip coffee and the Italian-style caffè espresso.

Some things that M. Robert told us about eating in France:

• The French always eat bread with their meals, much like the Chinese always eat rice.
• The French always drink wine with their meals.  They don't have soda with their meals because it is too sweet.  Also, if you order just water, people think you are poor (which is interesting because in Italy, most people just have water with their meals).

Fernando and I had ordered Cokes with our meals, which must have immediately made us identifiable as Americans.  We were later able to try some of the local wine, though.  Over here, you can get some of the local wine in a pot, which is a 46 cl (15.55 fl oz) bottle filled from a cask.  Or if you're alone, you would instead want either a fillette, which has 28 cl (9.47 fl oz), or a verre (glass), which is probably around 4 fl oz, a little smaller than the standard wine glass in America.

More to come tomorrow, and merci beaucoup M. Robert!

In Lyon

Fernando and I arrived in our "hostel" in Lyon about an hour ago, and it is really nice.  It is actually an apartment complex that rents out its extra rooms for short stays.  Our studio is very clean and comes with a big bathroom, a kitchen (complete with silverware and dishes), a refrigerator, and a TV, and it only cost us a total of 90 euros for two nights!  As you can tell, we have wi-fi internet access over here too, but only one of us can be logged on at a time.  The only other inconvenience is that Fernando and I will have to share a double bed for the next two nights.

We'll be in Lyon until Sunday afternoon, and can't wait for all the sights and especially the food!  It should be very different here from the more touristy Paris.  Pictures to come tomorrow!

What We're Working On

Finally you get to see what we've been working on over here!

We work at a company called TTW S.r.l. (S.r.l., which stands for Società a responsabilità limitata, is equivalent to LLC in the US or Ltd. in the UK), which is based in the Politecnico di Torino.  On my first day of work, the people at the Politecnico gave me some nice goodies, including maps of Turin and information about the city, as well as this bracelet,

whose clasp is actually a 1 gigabyte USB memory stick!

The company is rather small, and the work environment is friendly and relaxed.  The team is developing a vehicle called TTW, which stands for Three Tilting Wheels.  The purpose of this vehicle is to provide someone with a personal commuting vehicle that is smaller and more mobile than a car, but more stable and safer than a motorcycle.

I feel sketchy about taking pictures at work, so instead I'm providing photos that have already been released to the public.  The two pictures below show what we call "the mule," which is a stripped down version of the vehicle that is easily modifiable.  Once in a while, the team will take the vehicle out for a test run.


Here is a video of the TTW in action on the test track!

The next picture shows a prototype of what the actual finished product might look like.

As you can tell from the seal in this picture, TTW is a team in the Automotive X Prize competition.  In fact, it is the only team in this competition from Italy.  The purpose of the competition is for teams to develop hyper-efficient vehicles that can get 100 miles per gallon of gasoline equivalent.  The competition will culminate in a race in New York City in the summer of 2010, with a total purse of $10 million.  The division we are in (alternative/tandem) has a purse of $2.5 million.

In addition to working on the vehicle, the group is working on using the hybrid technology that will be used on the TTW on other vehicles.  They are currently in the process of hybridizing a Volkswagen Golf, and the next car we might try this on is a super-compact car called the Tata Nano.

This car recently made its debut in India, and is designed to be a very cheap (less than $3000), minimalist city car.

To make the car as compact as possible, Tata got pretty creative with layout, placing the engine in the rear of the car and the battery underneath the seats.  My current assignment is to design and create a layout for the hybridized version of the vehicle.  So far, this has involved lots of research and use of CAD (computer aided design) software.  I wonder what will be the next step after that...

If you're curious about the things mentioned in this post, here are the links to the relevant websites:

• TTW
• Automotive X Prize Competition
• Tata Nano

Trip to the Alps!

As I mentioned yesterday, today is a holiday in Turin, for the feast of the city's patron saint, John the Baptist. Because of this, we got the day off from work, so Kristen and I decided to take a trip to the Alps, to a pair of small neighbor towns called Chatillon and Saint-Vincent.

You may deduce from the names of the towns that they are pretty close to the French border, which is correct. In fact, the signs in the town were in Italian, French, and English. Turin's location is conveniently close to France, and the trip to Chatillon was just two hours northwest of Turin on the regional train.

The towns are small - they are not touristy cities - but we're in the Alps, so of course there are some great views to see! The main areas of the towns lie in a valley, at the foot of the mountains.

Clearly, there is a difference in the scenery here as compared to a city like Turin, and I like it. Though I am curious as to what everyday life is like in a place like this. We stopped at a local café coming in and it seemed like everybody knew each other. Maybe they were confused having visitors like us in such a small town.

Kristen and I first wandered around town, not really knowing where we were going, and where we wanted to go. Fortunately, there were many, many great views. The bridge in the picture below dates back to the ancient Romans. I believe it was partially destroyed, but restored since then.

Beneath the bridge, and along the valley runs a river whose color is like nothing I've ever seen before.
Like I said, this town is not a haven for tourists, but it still does have its attractions, like this old chapel on top of a small hill.

The definite highlight of the trip was a climb up the mountain to visit a castle called Castello di Ussel. It is in a tiny mountainside farming community named Ussel and looks over the valley.

I'm not sure how high up this castle was, but it was quite a climb. I am pleased to announce that somehow I am in quite good physical shape and was able to make it up that portion of the mountain without hurting myself too badly.

Below is my favorite photo from the trip!

The castle is dwarfed by the sheer hugeness of the mountains, but was still high enough to give us some great views of the valley and towns below. You can see the superhighway that connects the larger cities in the area.

Interestingly, it seems like the castle is now used for exhibition space. When we stopped by, there was some kind of exhibition on comics. The interior of the castle was heavily modernized (and the ceiling must have been destroyed because it is completely new), and numerous posters were set up, including a bunch of Popeye.

Ever wonder what comics look like in other languages?

Fernando had been showing me a cool thing he could do in Photoshop Elements where he stitched together photos to make a panorama. At the hill on which the castle lied, I took a series of pictures, which Fernando blended together nicely to create this unbelievable view of the valley. You can click on the picture to see it in full size.

At the top of the castle was this awesome view - naturally the best one we got during the trip.

I took the above photo first with the camera aligned vertically. But then I realized it might make a nice desktop wallpaper, so I took it again with the camera aligned horizontally, then edited the heck out of it to produce this:

This picturesque view is now on my desktop, available for me to look at whenever I hit the "show desktop" key on my Mac.

At night, there were fireworks above the Po River for the feast of Saint John the Baptist. There were tons of people... I think it may have even been more crowded than the 4th of July celebration in Boston. We got there somewhat late, but it was a nice celebration and a nice day to have off.