Mom can now say she has been to both Switzerland and France because today we went over the border to Lyon. Upon arrival we ate at Creperie D’or because naturally eating crepes was a must while in France. I ordered us a carafe of water but we were never given glasses. We did have bowls on the table but were confused as to whether we were supposed to drink out of these bowls or not. But we were so thirsty we gave in and drank out of them even if it was silly.
Lyon is known for playing a large role in the silk industry back in the 19th century. I learned about it in costume history and other classes in school so I was excited to go there. We visited the Musee de Tissus et des Arts decoratifs which had this special exhibit called a La Frontiere du Vetement which was pretty nifty. There were some garments that used felting which I had learned how to make this summer.
After that we went to Le Maison des Canuts which is one of the silk making houses. We went on tour that was given mostly in French and I was hardly following any of it. But then our guide would give us a briefing in English. They had all these massive looms set up that was like the Avoca handweaving loom I visited with Dick in Ireland this past summer except that these looms made the most intricate jacquard designs and other lavish prints. Today they still produce most of the silk for the royal families and castles and there are around 30,000 weavers still in the area. In general 30 cm of fabric come out of a days work but the craziest most intricate fabrics can be more like 2 cm a day which is just ridiculous!
They let us each take a cocoon as a souvenir. It is kinda gross but cool at the same time. There is apparently 1 km of silk somewhere in this little white blob.
To wrap up our day, we walked through the Vieux Ville, the historic cute area and I bought the largest meringue cookie I’ve ever seen. We split it three ways and couldn’t even eat it in one sitting!
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