On Thursday morning we went to the Lyon airport by bus and tram (navigating though the large Part Dieu train station) to pick up a rental car. Because we are going to return the car in Switzerland, the company rented us a minivan with Swiss license so we do not have to pay the tolls to drive there.

So many sunflowers! Fun to see them facing in the same direction.

We drove on small roads to see more of the countryside. More time, but more fun as well.

We stopped for lunch in a small town we recognized from previous visits, Perouge. The flags indicate a party that evening for Bastille Day. We were serenaded by the bells on this tower (below the clock face).

Lons le Saunier is the town where we will meet our friends and sleep for one night. A flea market showed clothing for sale.

In a walk in a lovely narrow park, we saw lots of flowers, plants and people.

We texted our friends, who wanted to pick us up soon, so off we went!

The presentations of interest to Brian were scattered throughout the day, so we stayed relatively close to the hotel and conference center. This gave us time to fix the blog (sorry I got so mixed up on the days! I blame jet lag.)

Fortunately, he had a long time slot in the middle of the day, and we found a five-star restaurant for lunch on the other side of the park. Another lovely walk through there!

Usually we don’t take photographs of food, but this exception is because, well, it’s pretty. But mostly because Brian said he would try to make something similar at home sometime. (I’m holding him to that!)

On the way back through the park, we met a friend of Brian’s who he met at a previous Goldschmidt conference field trip in 2007. Her outfit beat Clare’s for science and style because the pattern of the cloth is from a photograph of a thin section of a meteorite! She said it is from a company in the UK where she lives now. Clare hopes to find something like that someday. Thanks Heather!

There are some narrow arms of the lake, some suitable for paddleboats.

On the science side, Brian posted a press release for the macOS version of the USGS model PHREEQC; this was completed just prior to the meeting and is a available for free from his company, Visions of Quality.

Although the Goldschmidt Conference continues through Friday, we are leaving Lyon for the Jura region of France to meet our friends.

This morning, Brian had no presentations to watch, so we took a bus to downtown Lyon, an UNESCO World Heritage site (2000 years of history). We wanted the bus because it is all on the surface. Subways are faster, but you see less overall. We wanted to see two places (French for plaza).

On the way, we saw some churches. From a previous trip to France with her mom (2003), Clare got trained to go into every church. So we took photographs. This one had more modern looking stained glass, with larger single pieces.

Another church had different sorts of stained glass and a pipe organ!

Place Terreaux was our first planned destination. The fountain made of lead dates from 1892. It made us wonder about the water quality nearby. The famous Hôtel de Ville fronts the square.

Between places, we avoided construction and traffic by walking on small streets.

We had some great views of Cathédrale Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Lyon on the hill, familiar to us from a previous visit with our friends. At top, the views of the city were incredible, which is why it was so easy to spot from many sites.

This was a strange fountain, with women squeezing fish to spray the water. This is at Place des Jacobins. The place dates from 1556, and the fountain was added three centuries later.

Place Bellecour was our next planned destination. The statue of Louis XIV on horseback was being refurbished.

Continuing to walk about, we saw a monument to an old hospital, a memorial for the Armenian genocide (Mémorial Lyonnais du Génocide des Arméniens) and a huge flower tree.

We walked along the Rhône back toward the hotel and conference center.

In the evening, we took a bus toward a brewery for a Goldschmidt event, “Goldschmidt Rocks” with lots of colleagues. The weather was changing, and we saw thunderstorm clouds and great street art. We guess that Ninkasi brewery here and the one in Eugene, Oregon are both named for the Sumerian goddess of fermentation.

Brian went to meetings in the morning, but in the afternoon we decided to visit the confluence of the Rhône and Saône Rivers. The temperatures were soaring, but we figured out the bus and tram systems and went.

It is dangerous to catch the tail of a tiger, but Clare decided the tail of a lion would be OK (this is near the confluence).

Looking back upstream, the Saône is on the left and the Rhône is on the right. Downstream, the river is called Rhône.

The confluence river museum was closed unfortunately, but it was nice from the outside.

After admiring the huge amount of water flowing through the city, we wandered back toward the tramway to find an indoor/outdoor mall for some shade. This large complex is modern looking, with all kinds of stores and restaurants. Lunch at la criée consisted of salmon and tuna tartare “burgers”, spiced with wasabi mayonnaise. Like eating a sushi sandwich!

Back at the Goldschmidt conference, we saw an orange man statue made in the style similar to the brown and blue bears of Lyon and Denver. And some crazy penguins! Clare for scale, both with her crystal dress.