For most of the 20th century, Lyon, France, was known as “la belle endormie,” “the beautiful, sleeping woman.” The potential was there: the city sits at the confluence of two rivers with two opposing hills, one topped with a basilica, the other home to a thriving silk-weaving industry. But Lyon’s beauty was hidden in thick layers of smog and an intricate web of ring roads and tunnels. France’s Sleeping Beauty was known for having some of the worst pollution and congestion in the country, rather than for its aesthetic appeal….
