Lyon's Festival of Lights

After snow flurries and rain all week, the snow finally stuck with 6-8" Friday night, just before driving to Lyon on Saturday morning.  Dan and I went for a quick run Saturday morning in the beautiful quiet.

A view off the back porch.

The view on the back porch.

The boys building their fort at 7 am before jumping in the car.

We arrived at the Clottes in time for a wonderful dinner.  The best part was watching Paul share a can of A&W root beer with his family.  Paul had tried it before and thought it was horrible.  But he actually did try it again and seemed to like it better this time.  Laurence pulled out the mouthwash to compare the similarities.  After a brief rest we headed into Lyon on the tram and metro.  

With the Clottes in Lyon

On our way down from the Upside Down Elephant

Ryan and Nate with C3PO

After hiking up the hill to the Upside Down Elephant (actually a Cathedral), we hiked back down and met Paul for dinner at a fabulous, Bouchon, a typical Lyonnaise restaurant.  It was tiny and cozy with a fabulous 3 course dinner (all tried new dishes--Quenelle and Boudin noir) and waiters that moved faster than lightning (not really typical for french waiters).  We asked how many this little restaurant served on this particular day (huge festival day).  The waiter said that since lunch time they would have served about 1200 people--amazing!

Paul with Nate and Ryan after our fabulous dinner

 We then toured more of Lyon, attending more light shows on buildings, enjoyed a lit-up animal parade, flying fish and more lights.  The crowds were incredible.  Sometimes we felt like we were swimming upstream and the people were the currents.   It was good that we only had 2 kids to keep track of (Kent stayed for 2 basketball games that he had Saturday).  Dan would hold the shoulders of Nate while I held Ryan's shoulders and then we'd regroup once we made it through the crowd.  Sometimes we would all attach arms and try to navigate through the crowds together.  At one point, I had Ryan in front and reached back to grab Dan's arm.  After several minutes of walking in a packed group, I looked back to see Dan about 3 heads behind, at which point I realized I was holding onto a strange man's arm.  I quickly dropped it and kept moving forward.

Nate and Ryan on the tram ride home.

Sunday morning we enjoyed a nice breakfast with the Clottes.  Paul, the son who visited us for 2 weeks in Oregon, mentioned the night before he remembered me making something that was rolled up with cinnamon inside.  So, I taught Laurence, his mom, to make cinnamon rolls while the kids ate pain au chocolate and croissants with hot chocolate.  We then attended the Lyon Ward where I also made a funny mistake.  When I went to say goodbye to the lady and her adorable daughter who Ryan and I sat by, I said thanks for letting us use the chairs.  I was thinking of "asseoir" but said "assiette" for plates.  So what I really said to her was, "thanks for the plates."  Good thing I probably won't see her again, either.

Snowball fight anyone?