Weekend in Lyon

All right everyone get excited, because you are now reading the first ever travel edition of this blog. This post, as you've probably gathered already from the title, is about the weekend we CUPA kids spent in Lyon, a lovely town in central France (see below). Lyon is the 3rd largest city in France (after Paris and Marseille) and I enjoyed my stay there, although I missed Paris. Lyon was definitely nice to visit, but I think I'm glad I'm spending the semester in a bigger city where there are more things going on...

Anyway, I found Lyon quite beautiful, especially Le Vieux Lyon (the Old/historic section of the city), but I guess I'll let you make up your own minds...

Oh, wait, that's not Lyon at all, that's just Aly and Margaret eating the worst apples of their lives while waiting for the train to Lyon

Thereee we go...this is Lyon, and the famous Lyon lion (in French, the city and the animal are pronounced the same - LEEE-ohnn)

 The Lyon Cathedral, with the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière in the background

The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière is ready for it's close-up

The interior of the church was pretty impressive

(best viewed large!)

View from the Basilica

 Terrifyingly steep hill...

Hahah look at that nose!

Check out this balla...

French goths!

On the banks of the Saône River, one of the two rivers that runs through Lyon

Trompe-l'œil on the side of a building...

 ...and some more

Lyon is nice and is also sunny

Fontaine Bartholdi in the Place des Terreaux

Look at her reading Plato (or Platon, as the French call him)...so studious

French kisses for everyone!

On Sun morning, we went to the Institut Lumière, a museum dedicated to the Lumière brothers, the "inventors of cinema." The museum is in the Lumière brothers's family home, which was a lovely villa (see photos above and below) but because this tour took place early in the morning and because our guide spoke French at approximately light speed, I understood very little of what happened here and was quite grouchy during our visit. But because I love you guys, I fought my drooping eyelids and took some photos for you. 

 A model of the Villa.

 I always did appreciate a good dollhouse.

So artsay...

Proof that French people can even wear trash bags and look great.

 The aforementioned Place des Terreaux

THE MINIATURE MUSEUM!!!!!

Ok, so the above photo along with the next 6 or so all came from this amazing miniature museum that Aly and I found. Everything in these photos is mini...like they are all tiny scenes with tiny little parts, like a dollhouse (see above for mention of my fondness for dollhouses). Anyway, the intricacy and the detail put into these scenes was truly amazing. They must have taken hours to complete but they were all so perfectly done...they looked like real life places just on a miniature scale. I know I'm not explaining this well so here's the link to the museum http://www.mimlyon.com/ . Also, it's probably best to view all the photos large so you can see just how intricate the scenes really are. This might have been the coolest part of the trip...

Aly is featured in this photo to show just how small these scenes really are...

and also because, I mean, look at that face.

This was like, a mini mini one. The cabinet itself (like, without the legs) is probably about the size of a tennis ball...

A miniature scene of a miniature maker's workshop!! The whole thing is about the size of a large shoebox.

Mini medieval scene

(best viewed large)

Hôtel de Ville and other random things

Soooo on Wed we went ice skating in front of Paris's Hôtel de Ville (City Hall) where every winter, the city sets up a skating rink. It was pretty cool to skate there at night cuz not only is it a beautiful building that looks great all lit up at night, but it is also such a historic location. It served for many years as the site of public executions and was the first place in Paris (and all of France, I think) to witness the use of the guillotine when common criminal Nicolas Jacques Pelletier was executed here in 1792. 

Also that night, I went to a hip hop show (or "le eeeep oppp" as the French call it). I thought it was going to be either amazingly good or hilariously bad, but like Eclipse, it ended up being neither good enough to appreciate nor bad enough to truly laugh at. It was just serious. Like, they danced to MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech, which I thought was interesting and wondered how many of the audience (or the dancers) actually had any idea what was being said. I mean, don't get me wrong, it was good and they were talented and I can't say that I didn't enjoy watching young French men dance with their shirts off (http://www.par-alleles.com/compagnie-par-allèles/album-photo/ - oh hayyyyy), but I guess I was just kinda hoping that it would be more about having fun than sending a message. Oh well. The best part of it all (other than the shirtless boys, of course) was the fact that I finally got to the 10th arondissement, which was great, as I had so far only been to the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th and was beginning to think I was gonna be stuck there forever. Here's that graphic again in case you forgot what the arrondissements look like:

H'annnnyway, that's all for now. Stay warm and dry those of you back home who are buried in snow. Here are some nice photos to cheer you up!

 

 Hôtel de Ville. I tolddddd you it was pretty.

Hey girl heyyyyy

 This detail from the Hôtel de Ville is actually the city crest of Paris. The city's colors are blue and red (which are also represented on the country's flag, with the white standing for the Bourbon monarchy...) and the ship represents the city's livelihood, which once came from merchant ships delivering goods down the Seine.

 Ice skating at the Hôtel de Ville

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The Seine at night 

 

 

 A little bird we met at the bird market