Lyon, light and dark

(This entry is going to be light and dark, it’s the way I experienced Lyon and couldn’t think of a different way to write it.)

I was joined in Lyon by brothers Sam and Max O’Rourke, they’d been in Europe for a couple of weeks and when I mentioned I would be in Lyon with thousands of young women who were soccer fans and they decided to join me. I think if they had known how hot an muggy Lyon was they may have changed their plans!

I had chosen my hotel as it was near a stadium at which I thought they would be playing the World Cup games. Didn’t do my homework, wrong stadium! Oh well, real near a Metro Stop and there were a couple of nice looking restaurants nearby. It was in a business park type area, lots of office buildings. Got there fine, except when I checked in they said no AC. Quite warm but windows opened to a breeze in the evening. The boys joined me later and we headed out for dinner. As we were walking to dinner we noticed these panel vans parking near the offices, we thought they were maybe homeless folks. We ate at a pizza and beer place, Zappos, both were very good. Am noticing some US craft brews in town too. No AC here either, am sensing a trend.

On the way home the panel vans were still there, but each single occupant now had company or was at least advertising for company. It was very much out in the open and I couldn’t help but wonder how this would play out in the Denver Tech Center.

The next day we hit the FIFA Fan site about noon and wound up spending most of the afternoon before the finals there. They had all sorts of games you could play, pool soccer, dart board soccer, 6 v 6 soccer on a good sized pitch and others. The first one we tried was an enclosure with about 8 small goals arranged in a circle. Once the game started one of the goals would light up and you would have to kick a ball into that goal. It usually was the goal behind me that lit up so I had to keep turning in circles. Wound up a little dizzy but the swag bag was worth it.

Wasn’t as successful kicking a velcro soccer ball at a giant velcro dart board but it was fun.

Spent most of the next hour or so watching Sam, Max and four female college players kick the ball around and then take on another team on the 6 v 6 field. 2 of the girls were from Spain and 2 were from Germany and all were playing on scholarships at US colleges. This WC really showcased how much the game has grown. We have many foreign players on US scholarship and many of the US team members have played professionally in Europe.

The American Outlaws, a fan group that follows the US Women’s team around the world, hosted a watch party for the 3rd place game. It was at a sports bar near the hotel so we headed over.. It was packed with American’s and most were rooting for England. I found some girls that had an extra ticket to the game, but their friend sold it to someone else before I could close the deal. Sam and Max headed back to Paris that night, they’d had enough of Lyon’s heat and humidity.

The finals weren’t until 5 so I had time to hit a few museums before then. The Museum of Fine Arts in Lyon is 2nd only to the Louvre in stature. It was amazing! It wasn’t crowded at all, had some galleries completely to myself. Had to keep picking my jaw up off the floor, the paintings were just incredible. To be able to just take my time looking at these artworks, without having to dodge any camera toting tourist groups was just fantastic.

I met a couple of Aussie ladies outside the museum who had tickets to the final game. They checked a couple of websites that had tickets earlier and no one was selling. At this point I decided a sports bar would be just fine for me.

Next stop was a little different; the Museum of Resistance and Deportation. It is housed in the former headquarters of the Gestapo. It is fairly small and I only got through the main exhibit in about 2 1/2 hours. It was started in the 60’s when the folks of Lyon decided they needed to start gathering artifacts and interviews before they were lost forever. One of the things that struck me was that many of those interviewed, who were teenagers and young adults in the 40’s said the same thing. “We didn’t believe he would do what he was saying, he was like a clown, a buffoon, no one took him seriously,” They do a good job of showing what the resistance member went through to keep the publish an underground newspaper, how they forged documents, sabotaged trains and whatever else they could do to save their Jewish residents. They were able to save 75%. The last part of the exhibit has a book that names all those that were lose. A video scrolls these names on the wall. The video is not fast or slow. I was going to say you could read the names easily but you can’t, it is very hard to watch the names go by. The video takes over 21 hours for all the names to be listed.

Time to switch gears again, it was close to game time and I could use a drink. Hopped the Metro for my stop Stade de Gerand and the Ninkasa event center. Got there a few minutes into the game and found both American and Dutch fans. The place wasn’t overly packed so everyone had their own space and could cheer on their own team. The screen covered one wall so the view was great and beer was cold, best place to watch the game, if you couldn’t get into the stadium.

Next day was a travel day and the railroad station was packed. It appears a lot of Americans didn’t think to make reservations for getting out of Lyon after the Cup was over. This time I had done my homework and had my tickets in hand.

Next stop Colmar, France in the Alsace Lorraine region and the Tour de France!