A short train ride from Lyon is the town of Vienne which was an important Roman trading center and is known for its 1st century BC ruins.
We stopped for a mid-morning snack before crossing the Rhone River to Saint Romain en Gal.
The Musée Gallo-Romain is built around ruins from 100 BC. We visited the indoor museum first. It has a very good English audio tour.
Artifacts found at the site are displayed, but what this museum is known for are the amazing mosaics. They also have lots of models of ancient Vienne.
I loved the little models of the homes. The ancient Romans were very “modern”.
The museum began excavations in 1967. We really enjoyed walking around the actual archeological site, and we had the place to ourselves.
A large estate was unearthed with mosaics, marble walls and gardens.
There were also communal baths and latrines.
We walked through the town of Vienne.
This is the Temple of Augustus and Livia from 10 BCE. It is one of only two Roman temples remaining in France. We saw the other one in Nimes (coming in a future blog).
For a late lunch, we found a little sandwich shop run by Kurdish brothers. We had a Mediterranean wrap and salad.
There are small ruins all around town.
Vienne is worth a visit, especially for the Gallo-Romain Museum and archeological site.
Gracia's Travels - a photo-blog 
We also visited the Gallo-Romain museum in Vienne. I too so enjoyed the models and mosaics – simply amazing how modern-like they were for that time! Your pictures are so much better than ours! Thanks!
Thanks, Tammy. That is cool that you visited this museum. You must have been on a river cruise!