Fête des Lumières & Lyon, Au Revoir

This will be my last blog post, since I am leaving Lyon tomorrow. Thank you to everyone who has been reading my blog, especially my family members. I really miss you all and I wish I could see you during the holidays, but I am excited to be spending my last few weeks of 2012 in Paris, France.

The weekend before last was the Fête des Lumières, Lyon's annual light festival. It's the largest festival in Lyon, attracting 2 million visitors, which is over twice Lyon's normal population. Needless to say, the city was pretty crowded. 

I loved the Fête des Lumières. Unfortunately, I broke my cameraphone (my only remaining camera apparatus) the morning before the festival started. So instead of showing you what it was like, I will try to describe it to you.

The festival takes place for 4 days across the city. Officially, it's supposed to be a celebration of Thanksgiving to the Virgin Mary who is credited for saving Lyon from the plague during the Middle Ages. On December 8, the actual day of the religious festival, the people of Lyon place candles in their windows to commemorate the event. The city of Lyon added 3 days of the festival to make it a commercial tourist attraction, but it was no ordinary fête.

I went out to the festivities the first night and the last night because they were least crowded. There was a lot to see. Several different monuments and squares in Lyon transformed into living light spectacles. Giant light shows were projected onto buildings, and they were made to fit the outline of each building perfectly. We watched in awe as the lights created the illusion of the buildings being built, painted, and destroyed. My favorite of these spectacles was at Cathedral St. Jean. There, they created a show that showed angels and gargoyles raising the tower, transforming it, and ultimately burning it to the ground. It was so incredibly beautiful that I felt transported to another world, almost.

Here's a video of it, if you want to get an idea of what I'm talking about: 

St. Jean Cathedral Light Display

We also strode up and down the main shopping district, Rue de la République, which was lit up with Christmas decorations. Where there is normally a fountain there was a huge dragon made of traffic cones and other recycled materials, all lit up. We also saw a short film about whales projected onto a fan of water at the Confluence, and we walked through a tunnel transformed into a ghostly sea of floating fish in the air above us as they twinkled through smoke. I feel so lucky to have been in Lyon during the festival and to have had the opportunity to see it with my friends here. I will miss them so much when I leave.

Now, I’m going to list some of my favorite things I like to do in Lyon, in no particular order. I’ve focused so much on my travels in this blog that I haven’t had much time to discuss my everyday life in France.

1.       Writing at the Roman theaters. I mostly did this when it was warmer here, but it has been one of my favorite things to do on a free afternoon in Lyon. I love sitting amongst the ancient ruins, ruminating on past civilizations, while looking down at the view of the modern city and writing in my journal. It just feels like something straight out of a Keats poem. I love it!

2.      Studying at Little. Little is the cutest café that my friends and I have discovered here. It mainly sells adorable little cupcakes, which are absolutely delicious. One of my favorite types is their nutella cupcake. They also have tea, couches, and free wi-fi, which made them a great study destination. I am really going to hanging out there.

3.      Strolling down Rue Victor Hugo. Rue Victor Hugo is possibly my favorite street in Lyon because it has some really affordable places to eat and to shop. I love getting a bagel from the American-style bagel store, Bagelstein, which has really weird pictures of American pop stars in it from different magazines. I also am tempted every time I walk by the candy store, Tentation, which has a giant bear in front of it. You can load up on as much candy as you want from their selections of gummies and other delicious treats for just .75 euros per 100 grams. Also, Rue Victor Hugo is named after my favorite French writer, so how could I not like it?

4.      The Lyon Christmas Market. This only opened in the past month, but I have visited it many times and really like it. Most of the gift items there are a little on the pricey side, but they have great holiday-themed hot food. I love picking up a bowl of soup d’oignon or buying a cup of vin chaud from one of the booths.

5.     Rue de la République never gets old, although I hardly shop from any of the stores there. I mostly just ogle clothing that I can’t afford. There are some cheap French food chains that I like to visit for their baguette sandwiches there: Brioche Dorée and Pomme de Pain. I also love visiting Fnac, which is like combination of Best Buy and Barnes and Nobles. Its bottom floors are devoted to technology, but it’s top floor is filled with books. Of course, there’s the ridiculously overpriced Starbucks, which is nice to visit whenever I start feeling a little homesick. And finally, I think I’ve visited H&M more times than I can count, just to check out the latest clothes there, although I don’t think I’ve actually bought anything from there.

6.     Taking the Metro. Okay, well I don’t really have a choice on this one. But I do enjoy the efficient public transportation system around here, although it often has a few hiccups. The metro, though is nearly untouchable. With trains arriving ever 2 or 3 minutes, you never really have to worry about missing a train, because another one will come before you even know it. Although I won’t miss being pressed up against way too many bodies on the metro during rush hour, I will miss having the independence that Lyon’s public transport grants me without having the need for a car. And I’ll miss the comforting voice of the disembodied lady who announces the metro stops. I have every station’s announcement memorized.

Thank you so much for sharing my adventures with me! I will really miss France, but I am so grateful for the amazing experience I have had here. Happy Holidays everyone, and have a great 2013!

My friends and I at the Fête des Lumières

Things Are Winding Down

I only have less than one week left in Lyon. I haven't posted about what I've been up to in Lyon in a while, so this post will be a bit of summary of different things I've been doing.

About a month ago, I was reunited with my Swiss study abroad friends in Paris for the weekend. It was my friend from UCLA's 22nd birthday, so we spent the weekend in Paris shopping and seeing some sights. I mostly was just scoping out the city so I know exactly where I want to go on my final trip to Paris at the end of my time abroad. 

We strolled the Champs-Elysées and did a bit shopping at the fancy, designer stores, although I didn't buy much because it was so expensive. We also hit up the adorable Christmas market, which they set up in many cities around Europe during the holidays. There's one in Lyon, too, which is much smaller. At the Christmas markets, they have many booths selling little gifts and trinkets, arts and crafts, and clothing. There are also booths for buying gourmet food such as nougat, candy, wine, and tea. Then there are the booths selling fresh food, ready to eat, and usually it's relatively cheap and delicious! When I was in Paris, I had Tartiflette, which is a steaming hot mixture of potatoes, cheese, and bacon. I also tried vin chaud, or mulled wine, which is sweeter than normal wine and has spices in it. It really warmed me up, which was good since it was pretty chilly in Paris.

A mini-rollercoaster at the Paris Christmas Market

We saw a lot of sights that I had already seen with my parents on my first visit to Paris, but we had a chance to see them more in depth. Among the places we saw are the Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, and the Pantheon. This time, I climbed to the top of the belltowers at Notre Dame. It's a long, long staircase, but it was definitely worth it. We had a chance to see a great view of Paris and we could look at the gargoyles up close. We even saw one of the bells in the belltower and we just stood there in awe, thinking Quasi Modo had stood there (well except for the fact that he's a fictional character).

Where Quasi Modo once walked... if he had been real.

View of one of Notre Dame's towers from the other tower.

We took the elevator to the top of the Eiffel Tower at night, and had a chance to see Paris at night. It was beautiful, and it was stunning to think of how high up in the air we were. We were actually standing at the top of what was once the highest building in the world. 

View from halfway up the Eiffel Tower

The Pantheon

The Pantheon was actually my favorite stop on my weekend trip to Paris. It's a "secular temple" dedicated to the greatest men and women of France. It was once a church dedicated to St. Genevieve, the patron saint of Paris, but after the many revolutions and power struggles France experienced, it became the tourist attraction that it is now. Basically it's a patriotic monument, which holds the tombs of some of the most famous French writers, philosophers, and leaders. Taking a 19th century French literature course write now, I was completely in awe of the literary figures buried there: Voltaire, Hugo, Zola, and Dumas. I also saw the tombs of Louis Braille, who invented the Braille writing system for the blind, Marie Curie, the famous chemist and physicist, and her husband, Pierre Curie, and Jean Moulin, the leader of the French Resistance during World War II.

Okay, so I'm a little morbid. But he's my favorite French writer!

Back in Lyon, I celebrated Thanksgiving twice in one week! On the day before Thanksgiving, one of my friends from California invited me over to her apartment to cook Thanksgiving dinner with her and friends. She's vegetarian, so we didn't have a turkey, but we had a ton of hearty Thanksgiving dishes that reminded me of home. I made my signature dish, Mac n' Cheese, again.

Our miniature Thanksgiving feast, sans turkey

The next day, on actual Thanksgiving, all of the California students went out to dinner at a fancy restaurant in Lyon. They served us somewhat Thanksgiving-themed food, although it definitely had more of a French spin to it. We had pumpkin soup, followed by Turkey with mashed potatoes, and an apple tart for dessert. 

EAP Thanksgiving dinner

As for other adventures I've been having in Lyon, I went to the Center of the History of Deportation and Resistance for Lyon, which is a museum I had wanted to see last summer, but it only just reopened in November. I did my final presentation on the Resistance during World War II for my class on the History of Lyon. I was a little nervous about it, because I had to speak entirely in French. But I think my partner and I were prepared. Anyway, the museum is incredibly fascinating. There are lots of primary documents from the Resistance, since Lyon was considered the capital of the Resistance, and they have many witness testimonies given by Resistance members. The building itself actually housed the Gestapo during the war, so it is tragic and fitting that the building is now dedicated to honoring the brave Resistance members who were tortured and killed by the Gestapo on that very location.

I will have to dedicate my next post to the Fête des Lumières, which was the Festival of Lights that happened from Dec 6-9.

A Lot to Catch Up On Part III: London

On Halloween, I packed up my suitcase, said goodbye to Carmella and her apartment mates and flew to a city that I have always dreamed of visiting: London, England. 

It was my first visit to the United Kingdom, the 11th country I have ever been to. Landing in Heathrow, I could not contain my excitement. Even on the plane, I could hear the British accents echoing off the cabin walls, and I started hyperventilating. First of all, it had been two months since I had been in an Anglophone country. Second of all, I was going to just any English-speaking country, I was going to the Mother Country, the place where English was born. As an English studying, BBC watching, J.K. Rowling worshiping anglophile, going to London was about the coolest thing I could possibly do. Ever. 

Even better, I was going to see my mom there (or should I say my "mum"?), who had flown all the way from California just to spend a few days with me. We met up at Paddington Station, and we took the Underground back to our hotel, the Hilton London Tower Bridge Hotel. 

On my first full day in England, we actually left London for the countryside. We took a bus tour to Stonehenge, which is in the middle of nowhere on the Salisbury plain. It took us two hours to get there, but it was incredibly worth it.

I clearly have an obsession with ruins, what with my love of Rome, and my fondness for the Roman theaters in Lyon, so it was an unbelievable experience for me to see Stonehenge, which is even more ancient. When you visit Stonehenge, you can walk around its perimeter and even stand within 10 feet of the outermost stones. However, you can't walk through the stones. I understand why. The more people who trample through the ruins, the faster they will erode. Plus I can see the aesthetic advantage of keeping the sublime beauty of the ruins free of the blight of tourists crawling all over them. And, God, it was beautiful. Just the contrast of the grey, bluish stones set against the mild, green rolling hills of England, with the endless azure horizon on all sides- it was absolutely stunning! I was surprised by the sheer size of the stones. I knew they were going to be large, but they were even bigger than I had imagined, probably twice as tall as I am, at least. Of course, living in cities, I've seen much taller structures than this monument, but that's not the point. You have to put it in perspective and realize that, first of all, these stones were carted from miles away to this spot on the plain, and then erected, all without the use of any modern technology. And yet they have stood for thousands of years. Not only are they ancient and mysterious, but it's clear that they were not constructed haphazardly. Their specific alignments with the sun during the solstices has led people to speculate that they were intended for worship or for use as a calendar, or for both. Clearly, the people who built this circle of stones had a deep knowledge of their world. They were connected to the seasons and to nature in a way that we have lost in our modern society. 

My mom and I spent an hour at Stonehenge, basking in the ambience of the ruins, listening to historical and archaeological facts on our audioguide, and taking pictures. At the end of the hour, we headed back to London on the bus. Our day was not over yet.

That night, my mom and I wandered around downtown London. We saw the famous Trafalgar Square and we walked along Regent Street, a famous street for shopping, which was already lit up with Christmas decorations. Finally, we wandered around Soho, a very hip district in London. There we saw lots of interesting pubs and clubs, but by far the most interesting place we saw was a very unique hair salon, which doubled as a cafe. My mom and I were stunned that something like that could pass health codes. It was pretty bizarre.

The next day, we had a chance to really explore London, and for me, as an English major, it was like Christmas come early. Let's just say, London is literary heaven. Literally. Most of Britain's greatest writers are buried at Westminster Abbey, which we visited that day. 

Our first stop was the Globe Theatre. It's a reconstruction of Shakespeare's original Globe Theatre, to the extent of the knowledge they have about the first structure. It was built in the 90's after an American decided it would be a great idea to have a reconstruction of the theatre near its original site. Today it functions as a museum and a Shakespearean theater during the summer. The exhibit was pretty neat. It explained how different aspects of theater worked during Elizabethan times including special effects and costumes. Next, we took a tour of the actual theater. It was a very interesting tour because they pointed out the different aspects of it that made it different from modern theaters, and explained how plays would have been performed on stage in Shakespeare's day. 

After seeing the Globe, we headed to Westminster Abbey, where I saw the graves of Elizabeth I, Mary I, and Queen Mary of Scots, in addition to the graves of my favorite writers. In the poet's corner, they have the graves of many British literary giants, including Dickens, Shelley, Coleridge, and Austen. At times, it was hard to tell if the writer was actually buried there, or whether there was just a monument dedicated to them. For me, it didn't really matter. I was just swept up by an overwhelming mixture of awe and sadness at the sight of their names. Here they were, theses phantoms who still whisper to us through words although they have gone into the darkness. They existed, and they are no longer. I guess you often don't think about just how dead these writers really are, because they feel so present when you read their words. But they're buried, and here was the proof. It was a humbling feeling.

Tea and Scones at Westminster Abbey's Cellarium

After lunch in the Cellarium at the Abbey, we met up with my friend from high school, Mary, who is studying abroad in London this semester. This was my favorite part of the day. I had only had a chance to see Mary for one day last summer, so it was really fun to get to spend some time with her in this amazing city. First, we headed to the Sherlock Holmes museum, which is, in fact, located at 221B Baker Street!!! The museum is laid out according to Arthur Conan Doyle's description of the flat, complete with props lying around it, including magnifying glasses, hats, a violin, and whiskey glasses. The best part about the museum is that it's entirely interactive. You can sit on all of the furniture and take pictures with the props! It was really fun. On the upper levels, there were some ghastly wax figures reenacting scenes from the stories. It was pretty excellent.

Me as Holmes and Mary as Dr. Watson

After the museum, my mom, Mary, and I went to dinner at the Sherlock Holmes Pub, which is no way related to the museum (in fact it's in a completely different neighborhood). My mom tried fish and chips, while I had bangers and mash. Mary and I both tried Sherlock Holmes Ale, which was rather nasty. After dinner, we just walked along the Thames, wandering along, catching up on life. Sadly we had to part far too soon. 

The next day, my mom got us up early. She was on a very specific mission: we had to find Abbey Road, where the famous Beatles's album picture was taken. We found it and walked across it. It turns out there is a webcam pointed at it which broadcasts onto the internet, so you can try to find pictures of yourself there, but I never actually tried to look up the pictures from that day. 

After Abbey Road, we headed to Buckingham Palace and sat outside its gates. We were just in time to watch some sort of ceremony, which involves guard, some in kilts, marching out of the gates, playing bagpipes.

Mysterious ceremony outside the gates of Buckingham Palace

We took afternoon tea at Twining's teashop. There, we met up with my old friend from ballet, Rachel, who just finished graduate school in London. We caught up with her over a cup of tea.

Finally, our last stop was King's Cross Station. There, in a small corner, is a monument dedicated to Platform 9 3/4. Of course, we had to take pictures there. If only it were real. Can you imagine how cool it would be to visit Hogwarts? 

All too soon, it was time to leave London. I really didn't want to say goodbye to this wonderful city that I was only just beginning to discover, or to my mom. But I headed back to France, back to classes and commuting and language barriers, but also back to friends and places I've grown to love.

 Now, it's December, and in only three weeks, I have to say goodbye to Lyon. I'm not ready yet.