But first a farewell to Lyon, a city almost too large for us. We got the hang of it in the end but have decided we’re small to middle sized places to visit people. We stayed in a nice apartment in the ‘Bohemium’ part of town, read slightly sleazy for that! But very handy to all other parts of Lyon.
We spent the morning window shopping, and the evening in the old part of town visiting the city Cathedral before having a lovely meal and a refreshing ice cream on the way home! It's got hot, hot, hot here.
Well, what can I say! Anne has wanted to see the Millau Viaduct ever since she saw a "making of" programme years ago. We made it today, it’s soaring seven towers visible from over 30k’s away as we anxiously approached.
An extract from Wikipedia follows;
The Millau Viaduct is a cable-stayed road-bridge that spans the valley of the river Tarn near Millau in southern France.
Designed by the French structural engineer Michel Virlogeux and British architect Norman Foster, it is the tallest bridge in the world with one mast's summit at 343.0 metres (1,125 ft) above the base of the structure. The viaduct is part of the A75-A71 autoroute axis from Paris to Montpellier. Construction cost was approximately €400 million and it was formally dedicated on 14 December 2004.
A stop at the viewing area and the awe was obvious. Anne had organized a night nearby with views. It turns out to be a converted Chateau – beautiful and a special treat towards the end of our epic tour. Especially as it's air-conditioned - it's 34 outside today.
Anne's viaduct!
Millau town and the valley the bridge needed to traverse.
Our Chateau de Creissels
The viaduct from our front lawn.
The drawing room
We just returned from a pre-evening stroll through Creissels,
a pair of Swans enjoying the peace of the town pond.
I can understand that smaller places are easier to navigate and you would get a better sense have having seen the things you want to see. If the city is huge, there are just too many things you can't get to. That viaduct is extraordinary! I would like to go to the one that is always shown on le Tour :) Enjoy the chateau!
ReplyDeleteMagical, just magical!
ReplyDeleteWhat a stunning way to draw your time over there to a close. It's weirding me out to think that in a week's time, I'll be driving down to pick you up!
Like Amy said the other day, happy and sad at the same time!
Wow.
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