Lyon, Lee On, Lion

I admit I owe Eric for having had two phenomenal weekends in a row. The people we travel with can make or break a trip – and Eric introduced me to the folks I met and explored with during the last two weekends. First, he introduced me to Jenny who met me in Paris for a showing of Disney’s The Lion King, Broadway style. The following weekend I went to Lyon where I met Eric’s old roommates’ older sisters’ former student and her fiancé: Sabrina and Antonin. Follow that?! And two girlfriends from college: Caitlin and Abby. All good people.

From the minute I arrived at the train station Friday afternoon, I felt generously welcomed by Sabrina and Antonin. Especially when they obliged my request for a shower upon arrival! Since I had gone out for a drink with some teachers the night before and Friday wasn’t “my day” for a shower at home, I felt quite dirty. After, we drove to the basilica and enjoyed a panorama of the city...


... until it started raining! Then we took shelter in a café and enjoyed a hot chocolate and a snack while we waited for the weather to pass. Luckily it did since the weekend I chose to visit Lyon happened to be the weekend of a lights festival! One of the universities in town requires their students to create an exposition for the annual festival. They must use lights and may include music, water, monuments, balloons, anything! The three of us spent a few hours walking around the city, searching blindly for expositions. And we were quite successful...


Place des Jacobins, setting up for the exposition


A Louis XIV statue inside of a temporary snow globe. This was the most popular exposition. You can also see the basilica on top of the hill on the right of the picture.


A real train station lit up for the night.


This exposition was hard to capture on film. But this is part of it with a background of Saint-Jean Cathedral.


Part of the exhibit was hand-written messages. These are two that I really liked. "I dream of a world without hatred, full of magic and fairy tales to make people smile."


"I dream of having adventures and intoxicating love!"


Here it is during the day with the basilica in the background.


This is an “aerial” photo of Europe’s largest ferris wheel and the giant snow globe right in front of it.


Q: A man-made construction over a body of water, usually a river.
A: What is a bridge?


A bridge over the Rhône with ‘old Lyon’ in the background.


We ate pain d’épices (spiced bread) – a glorious, traditionally French Christmas treat. We saw a royal statue of Louis XIV turned into a contemporary snow globe! We found ourselves captivated by illustrations and sounds of the jungle projected on and from a church older than any in the United States. And we even found ourselves in line for a phone booth. It was sealed, filled with water, and resembled a petite aquarium with seaweed and living fish!! Perhaps most astounding, though was the Place des Jacobins – normally the most bustling roundabout in all of Lyon, this place was transformed into a type of outdoor lounge. Red carpet covered the pavement around the central fountain and cascaded outward almost to the sidewalks. Red chairs, couches, tables, and lamps littered the pedestrian place.

Saturday morning I was reunited with two of my girlfriends from Madison. We spent the entire day walking around Lyon. It didn’t matter where we walked, we just went forward. We walked ourselves silly before we sat down for a sandwich at, yes, and American café. Caitlin and I have collectively spent over three years in France and neither one of us had EVER seen bagels here. Even in Paris. So we had to stop.


And then we had to take a short voyage at sea.


We stayed downtown until it got dark so we could enjoy the expositions.

These giant ice cubes were displayed on a new walkway down by the Rhóne, very close to the departure of our boat.


Louie would be proud!


Newton’s pendulum! This was really neat – the two balls on the ends were motorized to simulate a pendulum. The ball that was displaced changed to a different color and when it came back and hit the other balls they became said color. Ever changing and moving. Very well done!


Unfortunately, it started raining just as we were getting started. So we skipped the light show and graciously accepted a ride from Antonin back to their place. We ate and drank and laughed for hours, trying our best to strike a balance between English and French conversation to include everyone. Slowly, everyone retired for the night. Sabrina and I were the last to go. And I mean it. We couldn’t stop talking until 4am!!!! I had a breakthrough with my French (I was able to talk and listen to French for hours without thinking about it) and I got a great new friend out of the deal! The next morning, Sabrina and I got up at 9 to keep talking – there was so much to say! Abby and Caitlin joined us after a couple hours and then we all went to the train station so I could catch my afternoon train home for dinner.


Caitlin, Me and Abby


Me and Sabrina