Last Tango in... And Cars

Well, I'm home now. Great trip, but exhausting. Also, so much butter and bacon, my arteries may never recover. Anyway, some last pics from the trip highlighting more odd stuff and also some thoughts and pics on cars in Europe.

Speaking of bacon, Lyon is the sausage capital of France. So the pig is revered. Nice looking guys, they don't know they will soon be cooked in a red wine sauce and served to me sliced in delicate rounds.


I love French bathrooms. As with most modern Europe, design is important in even the most common elements. Check the chrome dual flush mechanism on the toilette and this cool showerhead.



But if you get the urge while walking along the rivers of Lyon, and you are a guy, you get to use this classic pissoirs...


If you are into fast food, I found this little shop in the big Lyon mall. I don't know if the franchise would work in this country.


Now on to cars... the small car is a necessity in Europe, for many reasons. So you see models you'd call death traps in this country (SUV bait!). But they are quite cute.

Our last night in Lyon was the Fete du Musique, which had a zillion music groups playing all over the city. A very fun idea, but unfortunately a huge rainstorm kinda washed things out, unless you were 25 and didn't mind getting soaked. Mostly Electro, and rap and reggae stuff anyway, so I wasn't too disappointed to shorten my music wanderings that night. We did catch this wonderful traditional group... 11 "accordians" with accompanying instruments. The Woody Allen character in the middle was perfect for this group preserving a bit of France's musical past. They weren't really that great, but the opportunity to hear the traditional music was very fun.


We don't see many Alfas in this country, some of the sports models are now imported in limited numbers, but how about an Alfa station wagon, and a mini Alfa?



Here's the Euro version of the new, revived, Fiat 500.


Then there's the mini Mercedes! Curious... this model, called the Avant Garde, is slightly larger than the infamous Smartcar (also a Mercedes product, I believe).

Of course the rich don't worry about car size. So squeezing down the narrow cobblestone streets of Vieux Lyon was this Mercedes SLS AMG...


The retro movement is alive and well in France. So I found these examples of the classic small cars of the past.

An old Mini...


A Renault 4 GTL...


And, of course, the classic Citroen CV... check out the striped shirt on the young babe driving... Let's go watch "Breathless"!


And, finally, to the very modern... along the Champs des Elysee is a major Toyota showroom, and displayed was this concept car. Looks like a future F1 entry, but I suspect it is battery powered.



That's it from the great European adventure. Now on to the VISA bill. I wonder if my old job is still available...