Lyon

About a month ago I headed out to Lyon for a weekend to meet up and party with my good friends, Eleni and Lisa. Eleni is doing the same thing as me in Lyon, and Lisa is doing the same thing as us in Madrid. We were lucky cause the weekend we had decided to go to Lyon was the weekend of Le Fete Des Lumieres.

During this weekend the entire city if Lyon is packed with tourists, people from far and wide who come to see the spectacular light shows that are put on by the city. I didn't know what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised! The light shows were unbelievable but I will continue with that later on in the post. 

So I left Montpellier on Thursday, I took a two hour train ride into the city of Lyon, when I got out of the train station in Lyon, it was already very clear that the city was busy and alive. The subways already had huge lines to enter, there were so many people out and about everywhere. 

When I finally met up with Eleni and made our way back to her apartment it was go go go. Eleni's lovely friend Emma had prepared a quiche for us all, we ate up, got our drink on and headed out to see the some of the light shows and hit the clubs. The very best in my opinion are the light shows that are projected onto the cities old buildings. They are mesmerizing and highly emphasized under the influence of alcohol. The streets were bumpin' with crowds of people at every corner. 

As you walked through the city there were more and more  exhibits to see. It reminded me a lot of Nuit Blanche except without all the pretentious art and many more cool and fun light shows. One cool instillation (bottom right) was where people would ride stationary bikes which made the colors and lights on this cube spin. The cities carousel was also lit up, but I'm sure that happens every weekend evening and is not unique to this weekend. 

The next morning we all woke up ready to sieze the day... well not really. We were so exhausted from the night before that my friends and I decided to throw the day away by going out for some baked potato goodness and then come back to get under the covers and watch some good old "Who's Line is it Anyways".

We decided to go to the Christmas Market as I have become obsessed with Christmas Markets. At the Christmas Market there was a booth that sold Patatouilles! These are baked potatoes stuffed with ratatouille and then topped with cheese! It was so delicious and I was so happy to get the chance to have one! At the Christmas Market we came across a few Canadian booths! Felt like I was home again (not really)!

The next morning we were much more energized and ready to take the city by storm. We took to the streets of lyon and decided to get some beautiful views from a top the highest point in lyon. The climb up was exhausting but the view was priceless. Without the strong winds and the intense cold  I could have stayed up there for hours just looking down at the city. Being from a city like Toronto with all the tall skyscrapers you really come to appreciate how beautiful it is to have a clear view of the entire city, seems so much more welcoming than those giant intimidating monstrous buildings that we get  in modern city centers. I really love all the low level buildings, it's subtle beauty and modest appearance leaves a feeling of ease and comfort in my heart.

After the beautiful view we went to see an unbelievable basilica just around the corner which was also atop the mountain and had a beautiful view. The entire area had a very Sacre Coeur feel to it.

The Notre Dame Fourviere is a huge basilica that over looks all of Lyon, much like Sacre Coeur. It is said that both these Basilicas were built with private funds to thank god for victory over the French socialists and to atone for the sins of modern France. As I have said before I just love Church architecture. Definitely the things that excite me the most in Europe. Got to hand it to the Catholics for building some of the craziest buildings out there. I guess god likes the glitz and glamour just as much as we do.

I can't remember if visited the Roman ruins before or after the Basilica but either way we did visit them. Always so much fun to see ancient ruins. It's amazing what they could accomplish with such minimal technology. I have so much at my disposal and I can hardly build a table from Ikea. I don't really know much about these ruins... if they are even Roman, I think they probably put on plays? I believe that to this day there are still plays that are put on in these theatres. Definitely something I would like to do if I find myself in Lyon again.

The picture you see on the bottom left is a picture of the oldest balconies in Lyon. The picture to the right of that is of a building I really liked... I have no idea what it is but it's beautiful don't you think? 

That evening we decided to catch some more light shows in the city, before hitting up the clubs again. We caught another beautiful light show that was displayed on the Cathedral Saint-Jean-Baptist de Lyon. The light show was outstanding, crowds of people stood mesmerized by all the visual effects. Luckily for you guys, I took a wonderful video which will help you comprehend the beauty that is the Lyon Light Festival. 

   

Over all I had an amazing time in Lyon, with friends and beautiful scenery, who could ask for more? I plan on returning again because the nightlife there is like no other. I would suggest Lyon to anyone visiting France. Although you can't replace Paris with any other city, Lyon definitely comes in as a close close second for me.