Lunch with the Girls and End of the Lights!

Happy Sunday to you all! Only 6 more days until I leave for Switzerland! Only 13 more days until Christmas!!! 14 days until I get to see my dad! 15 days until I get to see my friend Steph! So many things to look forward too.... but I'm sad the light festival is over.... and I'm fairly jealous of all my British friends leaving on Saturday to be home for Christmas....

Yesterday, I had all the girls, plus a few more, over for lunch before going back out for the last night of the fête des lumières. Hannah brought her friend Megan, who has a wicked cool Scousse (sp) accent, and Caroline brought her friend Lisa, who has been visiting for both Caroline's birthday and the lights. So... in total, we were 7, and 5 out of the 7, talked funny (jk of course, they just don't sound like us Amuricans hehe).

My apartment, after doing a serious clean up on Friday evening, turned out to look pretty good considering, and they all commented on what a nice "flat" I have. Lindsey brought a rotisserie chicken from the market downtown, which I pulled apart with my hands after realizing a fork and knife were going to take forever. Besides that little disgusting bit of preparation, it was a really great lunch. I made creamed corn casserole, mashed potatoes, salad, and brownies and Helen and Hannah brought wine, bread, and cheese. It was quite a yummy little feast.

After talking and eating for a while, we got ready to go downtown. We wanted to see the Parc de la Tête d'Or because it was supposed to have some really neat fire displays. "Really neat" is putting it lightly. The entire park seemed to be on fire. We had to wait in a huge crowd to get in through the big park gates.... but once we were through, it was so weird. There were flower pots of fire everywhere! There were big fire balls on the lake, fire in the trees, fire hanging in balls from trees, fire shooting off in these little fire canisters. It was very odd. And, even more odd, were these wife-beater type t-shirts hanging from the trees. They all had lights in them, and were hung on hangers hung on clothes lines. I'm not sure, but I think this may have some relation to the fact that people wear these when running in the park? Maybe? Otherwise, I don't get it...

Unfortunately, Hannah had to head home after the park to catch her early bus home, Megan left with her, and Caroline and Lisa went off for "tea," which I figured out actually meant dinner, and not just a cup of tea. So the three of us- Helen, Lindsey, and I, left the park, and walked down the Saone river to cross a bridge into Presqu'ile. It was a nice little walk away from the huge crowds and it was lined with more flower pots of fire.

Once we crossed the bridge, we were right next to the Opéra, which had a few smaller light displays we hadn't seen yet. We were getting hungry again (it was already about 8:30 by this point), so we stopped for nutella crêpes, yumz, and then went on our way to show Helen the horse fountain, St. Nizier, the Place des Jacobins fountain, and more lights down Rue de la République. We were beginning to feel like light festival pros.... not much was different from the other nights we went in, except for there being more people, and the eyes on the horses in Place des Terreaux were glowing a creepy green. Helen's reaction to most of the displays was.... "Well this is quite creepy." After looking up "creepy" in the French-English dictionary, I can't come up with a great translation....so I guess bizarre or étrange are the closest. Maybe the things we think are creepy, French people think are normal?

We walked through Bellecour and back around to Vieux Lyon. I got on the D line and headed home, getting back by about 10:30.... pooped out again!

This morning I got on my computer and tried to watch a video my parents sent me, and my computer went bazerk, sooooo I'm, again, worried that my computer isn't going to make it. Apparently I can't solve my own computer problems like I thought I could. For the time being, I'm only going to use my computer for blogging, emailing, and writing lessons. I don't think it can handle much more than that unfortunately.... And I think I've decided that I'm going to not bring my laptop with me to Switzerland. If my computer does this over there... and I can't use it, then there's no point in lugging it around all week. I'll bring my ipod though to write short updates.... I still have a few days to try to sort it out, so we'll see!

Enjoy the last of the lights and reste cool:)