My best friend Tom did a year of study in Lyon. My first visit here was during the town's Fête des Lumières which is a celebration of Mary, mother of Jesus, where the streets are fully congested with people at night who wander around central Lyon to get blinded by all the light displays.
All in Attendance: Eric and Kristen (and Gordon and Vien)
On Friday, we gleis7 down to Geneva. Vien has relatives in Geneva and they were kind enough to let us stay overnight so we could travel to Lyon in the morning. So on Saturday morning, we rose up early and took the tram to the Geneva station and were off to Lyon.
Upon arriving, Gordon and Vien separated from Eric and I. I was meeting up with one of Tom's friend Adrien whom he met while living in Lyon. Adrien visited Calgary in the summer during the Stampede He met us at the station and I got the chance to meet him and show him around Calgary before I left for Switzerland. So now it's the other way around and it's his turn to show me his city.
The first stop: we took a crowded bus to a really fancy indoor food market. Plenty of interesting looking cheeses, pastries, desserts, meats, seafood, poultry, etc etc etc! Adrien got us these fancy sweet desserts sold in shot glasses that we got to keep and I even had my very first raw oyster that was opened for me right there in front of the booth. nom nom nom nomAdrien lives right in the core of Lyon were you take a very tiny (and thus cozy) elevator up to his flat. It was a blissful hot day for December (17°C !).
So after dropping off our things, we went sightseeing around Lyon. We saw the Lyon Cathedral that was packed with people eager to see the astronomical clock which is about as exciting as a common place cuckoo clock. Very similar in exhilaration to the one i saw in Munich. We walked past a puppet theater - Lyon is famous for these particular wooden puppets (you can even make one in your likeness for 1500 euros) and then we scaled ever upwards, past the Théâtres Romains de Fourvièree to the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière which is a cathedral that overlooks central Lyon from a tall hill similar to how the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur overlooks Paris. 
The view was really beautiful. The buildings in Lyon had red predominately red rooftops which really unified the style together. The buildings along the river were beautiful. You could also see these giant colourful balloons in the distance which were there for the celebration of Fête des Lumières. Inside the Basilica was extreme grand. Highly detailed, highly extravagant, very over the top and all that spare-no-cost glamour that I now associate with most cathedrals.
Afterwards we got some delicious sandwiches. We walked around Vieux Lyon and walked along the River. We went into the Musée des beaux-arts and later on saw a mural showcasing many important people in Lyon's history. Key notable people include Frères Lumière and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
A visit to another friend, a stop at a grocery store and it was already nightfall and time to brave the over crowded streets for the light display while sipping on vin chaud.
That night Adrien had people over so I could meet more of Tom's friends. From Adrien's flat, you could hear all the people outside until very early in the morning. The next day, Eric and I rewarded ourselves with a late snooze in.
On Sunday, Eric and I went to the Parc de la Tête d'Or which is a very beautiful and very large park near central Lyon. We shared a pear by the lake and watched un-human-fearing ducks parade about. There even a free outdoor zoo in the park... in the middle of winter! I have no idea how they upkeep habitats for elephants and lions outside (or if these are even healthy for the animals) but being able to just happen upon all these animals was pretty special. The pelicans there are also un-human-fearing and get right up close to the gate. Keep your fingers and tiny children away because they nibble.
For dinner we ate at croque-monsieur in a very cute restaurant called the Croque'n'Roll near the Oprah house. Before we knew it, the weekend was over and it was time for a very long train ride home.
Things I learned:
- My casual-conversation-with-people-my-own-age French isn't as good as I would like for it to be
- Paté is delicious but ...
- yum yum oysters
- Antoin de Saint Exupery - Author of Le Petit Prince - is from Lyon
- See a puppet show
