Laying Low in Lyon and yet . . .

We’ve both got colds yuck! I started it and Dana is carrying it on. Fortunately, there is a pharmacy across the street from our Air BnB. And still we are managing to see sites, eat in amazing restaurants, and trying not to spread our germs too far and wide. We arrive in Lyon to steel grey skies, misty rain, and a not so clean Air BnB. It wasn’t that it was awful, it was just not up to what we’ve come to expect. So, first things first we dusted, ran the dishwasher and the vacuum and set out to explore a little. Beautiful, easily navigated large city known for its churches (St. Jean Baptiste pictured above), its food scene, Lyon is also renowned as the home of the French Resistance in World War II.

Our first sightseeing adventure fits both the weather and our mood—somber. We decide to visit the Centre d’Histoire de la Resistance et de la Deportation. The museum began mainly as a tribute to the Resistance fighters and later began archiving the deportation of Jews, Poles, and communists from the city of Lyon. It is housed in the former headquarters of the Nazis. The film excerpts of the trial of Klaus Barbie in 1987 was chilling and a very necessary piece of the history as he was extracted from his refuge in Bolivia and tried in France. He was known as the Butcher of Lyon for the atrocities committed against the people in this city. Dana and I took very few pictures here, I did photograph the lists of Jews deported from here named Sachs and Rosenzweig.

Seeing the names, some possibly relatives of Dana, brings the history home in ways both uncomfortable and necessary. At this moment in history there is a rise in fascism in Europe and of course the United States. It’s part of what I wanted to escape and yet in France’s long history here it is again. And yes, the arc of history bends toward justice and yet here we are again and resisting repeating the horrors is not without cost.