Today was a day for walking! We were staying near the Lyon Part Dieu train station which was about 1.5 km's from the main square. As it was Saturday morning we could not find breakfast close to the hotel so by the time we got to Bellcour square I was hungry & grumpy & in need of caffeine. We found a small cafe chain where we had a Pain au Chocolat with coffee & juice for €3.90. Feeling human again we got some Tour de France info & a map from the tourist info then set off for the funicular station to take a ride up to the cathedral & roman amphitheatre. Flummoxed by the ticket machine once again as they only take coins we went to get some change & proceeded up to Notre Dame Cathedral. At least this Notre Dame had no queues & the inside was quiet spectacularly decorated with intricate pictures on the walls & floor created using very small pieces of tile. Plus, as Sean put it, it was a double decker cathedral as under the main cavernous chapel was another plainly decorated chapel nearly as big. Enough of the Holy stuff, next we travelled back further in time to the roman era (beginning about 40 bc) when Lyon was an important settlement with 2 amphitheatres from the Roman empire still viewable today. Mind you they have covered them with a modern stage & sound system which they use for concerts but its still interesting to think of the toga dressed Romans who would have built them all that time ago. We took a different funicular back down & we to find some lunch in the cobblestoned pedestrian streets of the old town nearby. Another European lunch, another 'menu de jour' we couldn't pass up. Today we had an Apertif (Kir), steak with fries & salad & a dessert (choc mousse & praline tart) for €14. Bellies full we walked it off heading back over the two rivers which separate Lyon into 3 sections to the hotel for a quick break before we tackled Le Tour De France. We had decided that we would view Le Tour about 5km from the finish line along the river near the Parc de la Tete d'Or. We found a shady spot to watch the caravan & floats of promotional & sponsor vehicles drive past throwing out samples & advertising. We had a few kids near us who dived for most stuff thrown out but we did manage to get a little packet of Haribo lollies & a magnet for a grill chain which luckily had the Tour logo on it so not a bad souvenir. After about 30mins of the caravan going past we found a slightly better spot to see the actual race & then the waiting began! About 45 mins with weary legs, feet & back there was the buzz of helicopters above & a sudden cheer from the crowd as one rider & a accompanying car & camera motorbike whizzed past. It was another minute before a couple more riders flew past on the chase & then quiet a few more minutes before the peloton rode past & then following on a few stragglers. The whole thing was over in 5mins from start to finish. Being so close to the park we headed there for a shady walk & to check out the free zoo. First stop was the Giraffes which included a baby who was only about 3 weeks old- so much smaller than I expected & of course adorable. We also saw monkeys, lions, turtles & crocodiles. After so much walking we decided to take the metro into the centre to find some dinner. Getting off at Bellcour it was actually not that easy to find something to eat. Eventually we turned down a side street & found a lane of restaurants and settled on a small Asian place for some curry & rice (we ordered Thai curry but it came out more Indian) & some dumplings. After dinner we had a drink at a British pub a few doors up before starting the walk back to the hotel & bed. I'm glad we hadn't gone out of the way too much to see the Tour when it just flies by in 5 minutes but it was interesting to see all the fanfare & logistics which goes with it. Plus we were off to see it all again tomorrow!