Christmas

Our Christmas Eve dinner - first time at a Moroccan restaurant in Lyon
We both had tajine, which was fantastic, followed by pastries and mint tea.

Me attempting to cut this cake. What a mess.

The traditional holiday cakes in Lyon are all round like this, but they have lots of flavors. Our was chocolate mousse.

Beautiful Place des Terreaux

Tom thought we should title this one "Runny Nose"

?? Not too sure.

I couldn't keep the camera steady enough, but here is Place Sathonay in the snow with the lights still up from the Fete des Lumieres.

a nice dinner at a restaurant to start off the holiday

Tom's ideal end to a meal: a plate full of different cheeses.

I can't remember the name, but it was basically thick chocolate and orange.

Tom's final selection

My first hamburger in France! Finally!

The first snow of the year

Marzipan at the Marche de Noel of Lyon

Creepyyy...

little castles of marshmallow

Franchement Formidable (Fete des Lumieres)

Every year thousands of people come to Lyon for its Fete des Lumieres. Colored lights are strung up all over the city, down the major roads and in the major courtyards. In the "Places" there is some form of an installation piece with colored light and a soundtrack that corresponds with the movement of the light. In a way it's like an abstract art film. The biggest installation was at Place des Terreaux, right by our apartment. The last few nights of the Fete we couldn't walk through the Place to get home because police were blocking off every entrance for crowd control. It's hard to describe the Fete because it was such a different experience, but it kicks off the Christmas season and really makes the city beautiful. One section of the Fete this year was a series of installations along the Quai that were experimental. One of the nights of the Fete there was also a fireworks show at Fourviere, just across the river from us. We had front-row seats and one of the photos above shows the people gathering below our apartment on the street and in a park to watch.

On every corner of every street, there's a booth selling either vin chaud (hot spiced wine), or some other regional hot food. We of course went for the vin chaud to top off one of our nights.