When I left Lyon, it started to snow. Not completely uncommon here (at home we call it the frozen East), but not common enough to have a negligible effect. The woman ahead of me was telling the little girl not to be worried about the snow, but to be careful walking in the street,
In front of the old station, a teenager was drawing things in the snow. Teenager + snow, 3 guesses what he was making.
One of the things I remember from previous visits to Lyon in the 90s, are those electric buses connected too power lines. I’ve never seen them elsewhere. In theory a great idea to reuse existing infrastructures and without heavy roadworks. In practice, when the country is France, expect people to park in any number of random places and block the buses.
I don’t know what the chimney is. A power station maybe? What I liked was the contrast between the electric bus and the smoking chimney.
Lyon has changed since my last visit, with lots of towers. And they’re continuing to build. I like the verticalities of the tower, the crane, and the sculpture, as well as the contrast of the snow with the granite floor, and the triangles formed by the various features on the pavement..
Nearing the station, some bus stops, lined up, attracted my attention. Strangely, bus stops are made differently in different countries. When I arrived in Scotland, I was surprised to see bus stops back to front, with the glass on the street side. Here the glass is at the back. But it makes more sense to use the glass to protect people waiting from the splashing from the street.
Inside the station it’s still Christmas.
Unfortunately the little snow we had has wrecked havoc on the schedule and my train will be an hour late.
When we finally get on the train, everybody is miserable and complains. They’ve lost the novelty of taking the train. they need to spend time where I live, with no trains, no buses, no trams, and no taxis.
Trains are weird when they’re empty. Normally, people move around, lug suitcases around, make noise. But when you’re the first one on the car, it’s like seeing behind the scenes. It reminds me of the Twilight Zone episode called “A Matter of Minutes” (one of my favourite ones). I shouldn’t be here, I’m seeing something that is not for human consumption.
Me again taking photos in the window. I like the effects of the multiple glazing (5 layers or something like that).
Other people.
When I get to Paris, I discover that it’s been snowing way more than in Lyon.
There is something both poetic and eery in nearly empty giant subway stations. All that space that has been built to accommodate a lot of people, but barely anybody there.
I liked the repetition of the pattern of the chairs, the frame created by the pillars, and the single person on the frame. This station is nearly under my high school, but didn’t exist at the time.
This is my Lartigue moment: the vertical lines are sideways because the train was moving and the capture times means that the bottom part of the picture was captured a fraction of a second after the top (also that the electronic shutter on my phone is somehow top to bottom). The lines on the background wall are vertical because they weren’t moving.
Continuing the empty theme, that train i empty. It’s getting late, people are home,, even in Paris.
Outside, despote no snow for a day or two, it’s still very much white and frozen. It’s currently -4. I haven’t seen this much show since Oslo.
Film noir ambiance to finish.
#Photography #BlackAndWhite #Travel #TravelLog #Lyon #Paris