Vienne Amphitheater

It was time to get on a faster road because Elisabeth and Marcienne were hoping to show me the Roman amphitheater just south of Lyon in Vienne. As we zipped along Elisabeth noticed that the clouds were creating shadows on the mountains before us.

Then the Rhone River appeared. We were well beyond cavern country and were now traveling through the Rhone Valley.

It was almost 5 PM when we drove into Vienne. When I took the next picture, I didn't realize I was actually photographing the very top of the amphitheater.

We sort of created a parking space. Marcienne and Matilde took off on a run while Elisabeth helped me hurry as fast as I could, which wasn't very fast since we were moving up hill!

Once Marcienne explained that they had an American in tow who was just passing through, the ticket fellow said to relax, that he wouldn't close until we'd had time to walk around the place.

Marcienne attends a jazz festival here each summer along with 100,000 other spectators!

This theatre had been "abandoned perhaps as early as the 3rd century AD, [and] became an open quarry and refuse dump. Its remains were progressively buried under the ground and terraced gardens were laid out over it."

Clearing the area and rebuilding the Roman theater began in 1922 and continued until 1947. Today's archaeologists question the exactness of the rebuilding.

By this time in our day, neither Marcienne nor I had a camera with a charged battery. Thank goodness for the back-up iPad!

Also thank goodness for Matilde. She took the pictures from the top. (You thought I was going to climb up there?!)  

When it was time to leave, we were treated to a glorious sunset.

Darkness was closing in, but the last rays of the sun set the Rhone River on fire.