Sunday, October 19, 2008

Post #18: A Castle on a Hill

Every fairytale is crowned by a castle on a hill.

When I moved to Salzburg, Austria as a senior in high school, I found that fairytale landscape--well, almost. One of the most picturesque cities in the world, Salzburg is framed by its gleaming white fortress on the hill.

I must confess that before moving to Lyon, I was worried that I might feel disappointed by the landscape. After all, Salzburg is pretty hard to live up to in terms of beauty. (Of course, considering the fact that I was moving from Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, I probably shouldn't have worried.)

Amazingly, Lyon shares many of the features I loved most about Salzburg:

A "castle" on a hill. This "castle" is actually the "Basilique de Notre-Dame de Fourvière"--a white cathedral that overlooks the city.



A river running through the middle of the city, along with quaint little pedestrian bridges. Lyon actually has two such rivers: the Rhône and the Saône.



Little side streets and alleys in the old-town that transport you to beautiful, hidden courtyards.



And so, while Lyon may not be quite as picturesque as Salzburg (the mountains aren't quite as close), it's still pretty spectacular for an Illinois gal like me.

Here are a couple of pictures taken from the top of the Fourvière. It's easy to spot our neighborhood because we're relatively close to the "crayon" (pencil.)



Finally, here's a picture of our street from above.

2 comments:

Chou said...

pretty pretty--not quite cornfields or soybeans, but still beautiful

Jackie said...

So beautiful! THe picture of the two of you is so sweet too!