Secrets of Lyon

                       
Secrets of Lyon

“Lyon means a lot more to Kiwi than just All Black games”, says local Virginie Varenne.
Along with husband Philibert, Virginie runs La Maison des Canuts (House of Silk Weavers). Both speak English very well and their silk boutique, workshop and museum had a number of New Zealand visitors during the Rugby world Cup, raving about what a good time they were having in Lyon.

I know what they mean. The bustling student town is a UNESCO heritage site and the gourmet capital of France. Along with imposing historical buildings it offers the highest concentration of restaurants in the country. There’s plenty to whet the shoppers’ appetite too.

Divided by the Sôane and Rhone rivers, with nine arrondissements or suburbs, falling into roughly four areas, it is ideal for exploring on foot.
Before our visit this year, the words chaos and Lyon were interchangeable. Our previous April visit coincided with the Lyon Marathon. This is the biggest sporting event of the year for France’s second biggest metropolitan area.

Driving through the old town’s narrow streets to our hotel, we were locked into Lyon’s one way system.

With no where to go but forward, we crawled between sets of lights and a stream of opportunist pedestrians, crossing at will.

We got a tantalising glimpse of our hotel down a one way street, but from the wrong end of course, so had to push on.

We made it some time later, tired and cranky, but by the time the cork was pulled on a Burgundy red, we were ready to pack as much into our thirty-six hour stay as we could.

On Sunday morning, when it came time to drive out, it was mayhem again. Lyon may be the crossroads linking the north of Europe with the Mediterranean, but not when the entire city motor traffic is relegated to one road, in one direction which isn’t yours.

There was nothing for it, but to drive north till we were out of the city and then re-navigate our way back well clear of race roads. It took some time.
We weren’t put off though. Two years later, outside marathon, we are back.

This time we are here to look at what makes Lyon the silk capital of the world. An email to the experts at La Maison des Canuts received this reply.
“We have a guided tour at 11am and 3.30am. On the tour, we explain Jacquard invention and we make a demonstration on hand loom, we explain the silk worm, the Canuts, their life and the revolts and we also speak about the textile industry in the 21st century”.  We are booked for the Friday afternoon session.

A heart fluttering climb up lengthy flights of steep stairs and pathways, takes us high above the city centre to Bohemian, La Croix Rousse, for the presentation.
We number around fifty and split into two groups to alternate between Virginie’s talk and Philibert’s demonstration.
With plenty of props you don’t need to be fluent in French to get a general understanding.  It’s like being back at school with a good teacher.

“Sericulture is the raising of silk worms”, Virginie explains, her enthusiasm giving life to the six or eight week life cycle from egg to butterfly. Eggs laid pale yellow, darkening to blue grey in a few days are hard like poppy seeds, before hatching to become a litter of worms or larvae, feeding off mulberry leaves. Four moults later, mature worms spin non-stop for three nights and days to form a silk cocoon. Inside the larvae morphs into a brown shelled pupae, emerging as a moth or butterfly, whose sole purpose is to perpetuate as it has no mouth parts to eat with and cannot fly.

The precious silk thread is formed by unwinding several cocoons together into a single strand.

Philibert shows how noisy and painstaking it is to turn this into cloth. Standing at the loom, he works a foot pedal while at waist height, he passes a series of shuttles, containing bobbins wound with different coloured threads through fixed threads stretched out between horizontal beams. There’s very little to see after his twenty minute activity and a full day’s weaving produces just a few centimetres.

Then Philibert moves on to a Jacquard loom. His explanation slows as he carefully works the bobbins on a luxurious piece of cloth combining rich silk, gold and silver threads. This is the loom that revolutionised the industry. By introducing a system of hand perforated cards, a pattern is woven directly into the fabric. Its updated version is still used today for intricate designs requiring the blending of more than sixteen colours or incorporating metallic fibres.

A restored ancient Chinese draw loom fills up a quarter of the available floor space, towering up to a distant two story high ceiling. This original model was operated by a draw boy and weaver. The draw boy stood balanced on top of the loom and raised and lowered varying handfuls of reeds at the weavers command. Looking at the effort this would take, it is not surprising to hear, the progressive Jacquard loom was invented by a draw boy.

To carry the precious cloth through the city, in the 15th and16th centuries silk workers built traboule tunnels or covered alleys. The extensive series of linked passageways offered protection from wet and muddy streets at a time when the sewerage system couldn’t have been more basic.

The traboules go through several arched entrance ways and buildings, zig zig up and down stairs, open up into courtyards surrounded by tenanted six or seven storied apartment buildings and exit through giant heavy wooden doors at street level.

Many traboules are privately owned but accessible. Entry from the street is through doors fitted with push button security pads, which are often left a finger width ajar allowing tourists to visit. Identification signs, however, are small and sometimes obscure, but by keeping our eyes open and using a location map provided by Philibert, we are able to walk through several.

Panthers, artists at work and historical figures stare at us from unexpected corners of the city.

Equally Lyon, these huge eye-catching trompe l’oeil murals are so cleverly painted they look real. The one in Rue de la Martinere, towards the end that touches Quai St. Vincent covers seven stories. Twenty-five apartments wrap around three sides of the building. Against an ochre coloured background famous Lyonnaise people pause forever behind their black iron balcony balustrades.

The mainly lace, silk and velvet clad residents, include Emperor Claude, architect Tony Garnier, the Lumière brothers who invented cinematography, puppet maker Laurent Mourguet, writer and aviator Antoine of Saint Exupéry and physicist Andre-Marie Amp.

Across the water from the Quai St. Vincent, high on the hill providing grandiose views, sits the ostentatious white Basilique Notre-Dame de Fouviere palace, which can be reached by funicular or a stiff climb on foot. Below it the Vieille Ville (old quarter), is flush with examples of Renaissance architecture. It’s also an area filled with restaurants.

More restaurants line the Rue Merciere, spreading out into side roads.
For a taste of local specialties, Le Bistrot De Lyon at number 64, offers a teaser taster of deep fried pork morsels, Salade Lyonnaise, a combination of poached egg, cubed ham, fresh crisp greens, croutons, mustard dressing and the grim sounding Cervelles de Canut. Made from fresh white cream cheese combined with crème fraîche and herbs, this translates literally as silk workers’ brains.

Close by, Gaston Restaurant Agricole’s rustic themed interior is dominated by a full sized tractor, setting the scene for fresh farm food, roasts, steaks, poultry and rabbit along with galettes (savoury crepes) and the traditional Lyon dessert, ‘tarte tartin’, a caramalised upside down apple tart.

We drive straight out this time, but are already planning our return. We’d like to check out another Lyon specialty Cinema invention could be interesting. There’s also the temptation of visiting more of Lyon’s intimate little ‘bouchon’ bistros.

Maison des Canuts - 10-12 rue d’Ivry, La Croix Rousse www.maisondescanuts.com

© 2008 L.Donald
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