Bonjour,

Macon lies on the western bank of the Saone river. Macon is the southernmost city of the Burgundy Region. The town was probably first started back around the first century BC. Macon greatly developed during the Roman times and has had a river crossing over the Saone since the Roman times. Today, the city is a bit over 20,000 people.

Alphonse de Lamartine is evidently the most famous son. Lamartine was born here in 1790 and lived until 1869. The town has a statue of Lamartine and many other things named after him. He was a writer, poet, and politician.

1. This is Rue Franche street which our local guide told us was the merchant street for merchants who were approved by the Bishop. Once again, the church and state were quite cozy.

2. This building was originally an old convent. Look at the bottom of the building and you can see a barrel built into the stone wall. Women who could not afford to feed their babies could turn this barrel to the other side, which was open, put in their baby, and close the barrel back up. That way, no one knew who had left the baby. Then they rang a bell to notify the nuns. Today, this is a retirement home.

3. This is a wooden building, which was a rarity to see, that was built in the 1500s. It had lots of interesting wooden carvings on it.

4. The temperature on this day was mid 70 degrees. We walked around and enjoyed the spring flowers. This walkway was along the river.

5. I did my best to stay out of trouble while in France. But if I was going to get arrested, I would have preferred these two gendarmes take me into custody. All police on horseback that we saw in France were women.

Voila,

Bill