Notre Dame Basilica

Yesterday afternoon Roy and I decided to head up the hill to see what else Lyon had to offer. Passing the Roman ruins, we went to the Ancient Roman museum, which was cool because most of the stuff in it was found here in Lyon. After that, we took another short walk even further up the hill to the highest point in Lyon, the location of the Notre Dame Basilica. I don't think I will even be able to come close in describing the beauty of this church, and the 103 pictures I took can't even do it enough justice.
The basilica is HUGE, all white with four towers on each side, visible from most areas in the city since it's the highest spot on the hill. There's a word they use to describe it that translates into upside-down elephant, since that's kind of what it look likes from afar. One we walked in, I was amazed by the beauty of the ceilings first, then Roy informed me that we weren't even in the actual church, we were in a chapel underneath the church. The chapel alone was the size of usual churches I'm accustomed to. Once we took the stairs up to the actual church, Roy and I were both stunned into silence upon walking into the basilica. The entire inside is made up of gold and blue and various mosaics. It looked like something from the inside of a rich palace. Unfortunately, the lighting made it pretty difficult to take pictures, but I tried my best. Aside from mosaics on the wall, the entirety of the floor is mosaic, as well as the three main depictions on the very high ceiling. Along the sides were large ornate columns that were topped by various saints.
The story behind the basilica is that it resulted from a time of famine in France around four hundred years ago. The community prayed to Mary to end the famine, and when it was over they built the basilica in thanksgiving.