Fête des Lumières, Round 2

So apparently I didn't see merde when I went to the Festival of Lights on Saturday... good, because I found it was overrated anyway. My friend Benjamin (who is still pretty cool...haha there you go Ben!) who lives Lyon invited me to see the real Fête des Lumières on the official day, the 8th of December. In retrospect, I'm really glad I went back to see the real festival that is celebrated all over the region to commemorate La Vierge Marie, the Virgin Mary. I took the train late Monday night and arrived just in time to see the festivities starting all over the city of Lyon. Right as we got off the bus from the train station, there was FIREWORKS! over the river Rhône. The best part though is that on the 8th, everyone lights des petits bougies, little candles, outside their windows...so the whole city is flickering with candlelight. Up on the hilltop overlooking the city is the famous basilique Notre-Dame-de-Fourvière with a huge golden Marie perched on top and a lit up "Merci Marie" sign across. We promenaded a bit in the street, enjoying the light installations and decorations everywhere. The theme this year I guess is la mer so it has a bit of an underwater theme, with weird watery music playing in the street and ocean-themed light installations. I was confused at first, wondering where in the hell all the CHRISTMAS music was??? But Ben explains ça n'a rien à voir avec Noël- it has nothing to do with Christmas. Oh. Huh? I guess I'm used to everything Christmas-themed during the month of December, but then again, Americans don't really have old religious festivals... In the street, there were a bunch of drummers playing and marching bands. I think the best part though was there were fewer people and a big difference from Saturday- they were all Lyonnais, rather than tourists. So it was quaint and lovely, rather than overwhelming. Ben and I found a little restaurant near his place that was serving Lyonnais food tapas-style. I chose the boeuf et carottes, which was delicious...the best though was my chocolate tarte after, which was so yummy (although, not according to Ben...) I think I learn most of my cultural differences from Ben- for example, I think everything is great and pretty and jolie and awesome, whereas he tends to critique more, French-style. We exchanged stories though- I told him a little quip that Juliette told me that explains well the difference between French and Americans....using fruit! She said the French are like coconuts- they're hard on the outside and difficult to break into, but once you do, they're soft and sweet; whereas Americans are like peaches- super nice and sweet on the outside but there's always that hard pit that you can't crack into, so you never really really get to know them. Ben told me about his professor (from Boston) who taught at his university in Estonia, and who always used expressions like "At the end of the day", "You know whatta mean" and "Baaaasically"- for some reason, the French find these words so funny. Kind of like how I find it funny when they say "Baaaaaaan" all the time and "Eeeein?" But I realized I do use these words all the time in English, like "Definitely! Totally! Seriously! Honestly? For real!" Ben also told me about how his American professor explained another cultural difference: Americans use the word great or grand or big to describe or sell things, for example "Come get a nice big hot cup of cider!"; whereas, the French love using the word petit. For example, in the streets of Lyon, all the vendors were yelling out "Allez! Un petit vin chaud! On y va!" And they love that word! Un petit mot, boire un petit coup ensemble, un petit café, une petite rue, while we Americans love our word great. Another difference between the French and Americans- we're naturally friendlier! Ben ran into his old professor of French back in high school, and I tried to make conversation with her- they call it tutoyer, which is basically to employ the "tu" form in conversation to make it casual. He found it a bit strange that I would be making conversation with a complete stranger and use the "tu" form rather than "vous"- I forgot! Oops! I swear by the time I leave France, I'll remember to use the "vous" with my elders...I guess it's not common (or worth it) here to try and be friendly with strangers...they just don't do that here?
After dinner, we walked over to the vieux quartier to the cathedral St. Jean all lit up with crazy lights, and to see the light show at Hôtel de Ville - with the light effects, the story was a little kid who pretended to throw paint all over the townhall and dunk it underwater. All across town were lights shows and funky music. Some vin chaud to warm us up and then back home to warm up cuz it was so cold out!









As I write this, it's Wednesday morning and I haven't made it to class because it's snowing lightly outside and my bed is way too warm and cozy to leave the house! And my Christmas music is playing.....But eventually I'll make it outside the house and venture out in the snow to do mes cours and go shopping at the Christmas market in la place de Grenette.