Last week I took you on a virtual trip to my wonderful home town Lyon and this week it’s going to be doubly virtual. And doubly cool. Not only are we going back to Lyon but we are going more than 2000 years back in history, when it was a Roman Empire Capital!

Lyon is a big city: 2 million inhabitants. It has amazing culture, architecture, food, arts, and… history!

Here’s one cool fact about Lyon. In the year 43 BC, it was called Lugdunum and it was the capital of the Roman Gaul a colony of the Roman Empire. It was founded one year after the assassination of Julius Caesar AND in the middle of a civil war opposing Mark Anthony and Augustus in Rome. Augustus being the adopted son of, as we say in French, Jules César.

The wonderful consequence of this can be experienced today in Lyon!

You can explore and sit on the steps of the Théâtre Antique and imagine what it would have been like to assist to one of their “shows”.

One of the most famous ones in Lyon features the Christian martyr Sainte Blandine. The legend says that since she would not renounce her Christian faith, she was thrown in that very theater to be eaten by hungry scary lions. But the lions felt her purity and refused to even scratch her.

The Romans did find a way to kill her however, but I’m not going to tell you how because I don’t specialize in horror stories!

Lugdunum lived until the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century.

And then for more adventures!

Remember how I told you that the Lyon architecture was special? You will not only encounter Roman architecture in Lyon but also Medieval & Renaissance buildings along the 2 rivers that go through Lyon.

Sounds like a nice place, doesn’t it? Well why don’t you check out the trip that my French Maman are organizing and guiding in Lyon this September? Click click!

Speaking of which, she will be in our video next week since she is visiting me in Seattle from France!

PS: Only 1 spot left for the September trip so I’m opening a second one from Oct 3rd to Oct 12th 2016, it’s not yet on the site but it will be soon 🙂