Since this was one of the days where we DIDN'T have to be on a train before 8 in the morning, we slept in a bit before heading out. We started heading toward the town of St. Romain en Gal, which is across the Rhône from Vienne, but is still part of the city, I'd say. On our way, we came to a church and a cloister which we already had tickets to visit. Click to EnlargeThe cloister was adjacent to the church, and housed a number of ancient coffins and funeral slabs (akin to headstones). As we started to look around, the attendant came in to tell us that he was opening the church for some other visitors, in the event that we would care to look at the church too. So we went with him, and took a little look at the church. I tried to ask him some questions about the church, but my French didn't help me out, and he didn't understand my English too well... we managed to work out a couple answers... that the church had been added on to over the years, that the area by the altar was newer... We went back into the cloister, and talked with the attendant about where we were from, and about language and the ability to speak and understand each other. He was Arabic, which he said made it easier for him to pronounce English "R's" than it would be for a natural-born French Speaker. He said that I "ate my words," which made it more difficult for him to understand my English; Penny he could understand better. We looked around the cloister and an exhibit of children's art which was in the building adjacent to the cloister, and then we said "au revoir."

Click to EnlargeNext, we headed across the bridge to St. Romain en Gal. What you find here is basically an ancient Roman city. A huge part of the city is being discovered (and, to some extent, rebuilt). We went into the huge museum first, in an effort to beat the heat for a while. The museum houses a large collection of artifacts from the city that is being discovered: containers, mosaics, tools, etc. It gives you some idea of what life was like in the city.
Then we headed out into the sun to wander the ancient Roman roads and sidewalks... into the ancient commercial district of Vienne... into the ancient baths... into large houses... The roads were pretty nice, although a bit wobbly. I must say that they look much better than some of the roads that exist in the modern world! Penny was hoping to see a bit of the archeology going on, and was a bit dissappointed to see what appeared to be a bit of reconstruction on the site. It wasn't on a grand scale, but it was certainly more than dusting off the cobwebs and dust from pre-existing structures. I suppose this is what happens in an attempt to bring history to life, though it does seem to be a bit like rewriting the history books... Click to Enlarge
We went to lunch at a little restaurant next to the church we had visited earlier, on the side opposite the cloister we visited. It looked a bit pricey perhaps, but I'm not big on walking up to a restaurant, saying "bonjour," and then walking away... so we ate there. At the end of our meal, I told the maitre d' that I wished that we could take the chef home with us! (When I was looking for the website for the restaurant, I learned that the maitre d' WAS the chef! Mon dieu!) We had a wonderful 3 course lunch, with a wonderful weird salad with some kind of fried cheese on top (not like the mozzarella sticks you're thinking about... amazing creamy cheese with a thin, flaky crust). Penny had the chicken, and I had the whitefish... delicious... then came dessert... Penny had the Creme Broulée, and I had some kind of chocolate cake... holy smokes... great stuff. I didn't want to leave... but we did.

We walked a bit through the town... Penny did a bit of shopping... and ended up buying herself a ring at the local jeweler. We knew that we had a long day on the train ahead of us, so we went to the local supermarket to pick up some rations and such. We had a great time in the store... trying to find some crackers and cheese and wine to take with us on the train.... we got some laundry soap so that we could wash a few things at the hotel... and then we headed back to the hotel to wash a few things.

That night we had kind of hoped to find a little club to go to. We went to a restaurant first that evening, and my limited knowledge of French failed Penny big time... I ordered her some beef for dinner... I didn't know that carpaccio was served raw... She didn't care for it, but luckily we ordered some french fries for her, too. She shared some of my grilled shishkabob, and no one starved that night. After that, we went off to find some of that crazy music. There was reported to be a jazz college (Collège Ponsard) in the town, but they didn't know about it at the tourism office, and the few places that they recommended to us just had music playing... no bands to be seen. We were there on a weeknight, after all... c'est la vie. So we called it a night, as we were set to be on the train for Italy at 10 minutes to 6 the next morning.