La Saône, The Little Prince, Place Bellecour and the Presqu’île – Lyon

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La Saône is one of the rivers that runs through Lyon with several bridges over it, connecting the old city to the peninsula (presqu’île).

Looking down the river and looking across the river to the old city and The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière up on the hill.

     

G and L with a cool footbridge behind them that was designed with a single, giant pylon and huge cables.

A closer view of the footbridge, pylon, and cables.

Situated between La Saône and La Rhone in Lyon is the presqu’île (peninsula).  One of the areas on the peninsula is a large public square (15 acres!) called Place Bellecour. It’s a wide open, beautiful area with a view of the cathedral up on the hill on one side…

and a giant ferris wheel at the other end (which I read somewhere is only there during the winter…lucky us!).  Mike and the kids went for a ride. 🙂  I chose to watch with my feet planted firmly on the ground. 🙂

In addition, the office of tourism, a great playground, and a beautiful statue of the Little Prince are all located on the square.

In the office of tourism, L decided to do another statue imitation:

At the playground, G and L’s favorite part was the giant spider web (toile d’araignée).

Here’s the statue of the Little Prince standing behind Antoine de Saint-Exupéry:

I’ve read The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (who was born in Lyon) several times in both French and English starting in junior high and love reading it, as I discover something new about it each time.  Our wedding program even included one of the quotes from the book that’s etched onto the base of the statue:

"One sees clearly only with the heart. What is essential is invisible to the eye."

The kids and I watched this 1974 version a couple of years ago, which we liked. While we were in Glasgow, we all watched this new animated version together, which has a story within a story format that we liked, too.  I actually loved it!

Oh, before I end this post, we walked up one of the pedestrian shopping streets that starts at the Place Bellecour and found our way to La Droguerie, a lovely sewing store. 🙂  See the giant button on the outside?  Lots of yarns and patterns and fabrics and buttons inside…but not embroidery floss, which is what we needed.

The store clerk directed us to a mercerie (a notions store) called Au Liseron.  He gave the directions in French and G led us there, no problem. 🙂

We also came across this beautiful fountain and a lovely flower tree!

 

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