France vs. Ireland

not the most exciting storefront in the Guillotiere, but I didn't have my camera with me on the right day

A post-game nutella crepe for consolation from the crepe man in Vieux Lyon

Pre-gaming with some pastries (Tarte Praline)

Over one week ago now, there were two World Cup qualifier matches in the same day: Ireland vs. France and Algeria vs. Egypt. During the week there were riots in Marseille, so even though there weren't any riots in Lyon, the atmosphere was lively. The day of, green jerseys and flags for Algeria covered the Guillotiere. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera with me that day, which was a big mistake. There's a store called "Romance" that sells eastern wedding dresses and some random western formals, which usually has sequened, glittery fabrics covering the display windows. During the days before the game, it was nothing but Algeria paraphernalia: flags, scarves, banners, everything. Even Romance was taken over by pre-game hype.

Tom, myself, and some others went to Johnny's Kitchen, an Irish pub in Vieux Lyon, to watch the France vs. Ireland game. Our thinking with Johnny's Kitchen was that since it's a popular Irish pub, there would be lots of Ireland supporters. Not so much: our group was the only one for Ireland. Everyone's probably read the stories about the hand ball by now, which was really blatant. It was a great tense game, but it should've ended differently. A watered-down version is that France hadn't been playing well, Ireland had, they tied, went into overtime, then Thierry Henry made the winning goal for France by cheating with a handball. All of the France supporters in the bar cheared when he made the goal, but afterwards the reaction of the city as a whole was very telling. Algerians were riding around the city everywhere waving big flags on motorcycles, out of cars, yelling and cheering. There were police cars all over the Guillotiere for crowd control and even around Bellecour. We could hear cheering from our window up above the centre-ville all night, all from Algerians. There were no French people cheering. We didn't see a single flag for France, only Algeria. In the heart of the city, the police were there for the Algerians. It was not a dignified win for France and the city showed it. It's been a little bit of a controversy since then, but the results aren't changing and France is going to the World Cup. Tom still isn't over it, but I have to say I'm thrilled to be living in a city and country that gets so heated by the World Cup. Sorry Coach, but I still think soccer/World Cup is so much more fun than football/SuperBowl. :)

La Sucriere

Weeks ago we made our second trip to a Biennale site. La Sucriere is one of the main venues and it's at the bottom of the presqu'ile, behind Perrache, one of the major train stations in Lyon. Immediately behind Perrache, the presqu'ile gets extremely seedy with streets full of prostitutes. It seems that the city is trying to revitalize the area by starting a lot of commercial projects there along with this new museum, La Sucriere. Walking there right now is interesting because you're basically going through an abandoned industrial area and then all of a sudden, there are signs pointing towards this random cluster of buildings along the Quai. What makes it even more creepy is that when we went, there was an enormous circus tent set up for some circus that was passing through. There couldn't have possibly been something creepier in the area. Anyway, in the cluster of buildings, first comes the orange building shown above. So it's still surrounded by some run-down looking industrial structures and also keeps the same industrial aesthetic, but then it's covered in this crazy orange material that gives it a more artsy look. Next comes a little reflection pond in between two square buildings, then another building that would be a little boring except that it has cut-outs of soldiers on the balconies. Finally there is La Sucriere, which was the old Chamber of Commerce but has now been converted into a museum. Naturally they have a display of graffiti with a huge mural on the side of the building, which just screams contemporary art. Most of the displays were at least interesting to look at, some were even funny. Tom's favorite work was a motorized wooden head banging against a wall. My favorite was a display of books entitled Steal This Book. Most people stopped to pick one up and read it, which we also did. The inside described the thought process most people were probably having of whether or not you're really supposed to take it, if the security guard, who was standing right next to it, would let you, and if you would be guilty of stealing if you did. I asked him if I could take it and he responded, "Why are you asking me?" so I laughed and just slipped it into my purse. I've seen a few copies floating around the city, like at our laundromat. Another exhibit was a "house" with walls made of movie film, but I'm not really sure what the message was. It just seemed more like an interesting spectacle. After the visit, we took a little boat farther up the river. The photo of the old abandoned mansion is the same mansion that we took pictures of earlier in the blog. I think the old fortification walls are fantastic. And last but not least, can't finish the entry without a pastry.

I forgot to post some new pastries! Their names were too long to remember, but basically one was a vanilla cookie with a texture similar to a macaron with sweet cream inside and powdered sugar on the outside. It sounds just like a macaron, but it wasn't. The other was basically a tiny chocolate pie without crust. YUM!

The Eternal Fair!!

Here we have some Jamaican fellows advocating for the legalization of weed, among other cartoon characters like Betty Boop, Hello Kitty, and some fluffy pink and blue stuffed animals. That's what our Jamaican friends are good for, though.

Once again, we have Bart Simpson, mushroom man, soccer balls, and then some Jamaican women with huge grins, big lips, and crazy figures. They're probably also smoking weed.

The little girl in the pink go-cart was killing everyone else in the race. Below she's about to overtake this boy, then above she's in the lead.

I don't know how fairs work in other regions of the U.S., but in Lafayette the "Cajun Heartland State Fair" comes through every year. The carnies set up shop for one or two weekends, and then hit the road again. Well we live right under the Croix-Rousse, the northern edge of Lyon, and there has been a fair installed here for over one month. During the day it's ugly, dirty, and looks garish set against the background of historic buildings and city greenery. In fact, during the day, it looks almost deserted. People just walk around it on the way to other things, but the carnies, or whoever is in charge of it, has crammed the little booths and rides into every little niche of the big boulevard, so it's totally invasive. You can't escape it when you're within the boundaries, it's at the beginning of every side street.

One sort of humorous element of the fair is that most of the booths have wierd American themes. For example, there's a Rock and Roll ride with American flags, Elvis, a soda shop waitress, then the phrase "love machine" (hippy culture? ok, kind of a stretch...), break dance signs (90s? what?), and then Brazilian flags (not the US anymore!). There's another booth selling I don't know what called The King, another named Al Capone, some Betty Boop, some Looney Tunes, then a tiny train track with small neon green foamy cacti called VEGAS! I'm sorry, did I say Looney Tunes? I meant Planet Toons, the other, sketchier version that doesn't infringe on any copyrights. I will give them, whoever them is, credit for their haunted house. It looks much more elaborate and interesting than what we get in Lafayette. And I have to say, all of the booths are interesting at night. With the crazy lights everywhere, all of the people, and then the sketchy element that comes with the fair, it's a fascinating place to do some people watching. Tom and I haven't figured out how it's still making money because it's been here so long. I would think parents would take their kids once, maybe twice if the kids nag enough, and that's it. But there are almost always crowds at night. I don't know.

mouth full of it...

almost in...

Again, I was trying to preserve our dignity, but apparently it's useless. These pics were going to end up on the internet anyway. So here's the tiramisu and of course us eating it.

Salon du Chocolat

the giant tiramisu!

Above are Davide, Chiara, and another girl who I think works at the Italian Chamber of Commerce.

a giant chocolate bear!

This past weekend was the Salon du Chocolat, where some chefs made the biggest tiramisu in the world, officially certified by the Guinness Book. Our friends Chiara and Davide were there representing the Italian Chamber of Commerce, so they gave us free tickets, which was great. We were a little surprised because we thought there would be lots of free samples of chocolate since you have to pay admissions, but it was just a lot of chocolate vendors selling their chocolates. Some were inventive, like the photo above of a man who had bouquets of flowers made of candy and chocolate. They also had a demonstration going on of a man making paintings out of chocolate, but we were not so impressed by it. His paintings just looked like abstract art. The giant tiramasu was worth seeing and tasting, though. Hooray for chocolate!