La Fête des Lumières

This one is a tad late as la fêtes des lumières was on the 8th of December but I didn't want to make a generic post about it but I learnt some solid lessons so I will share it all with you! The aim of this post is to give you an idea of what it's like and then some tips to help you enjoy it!

What is this mystical event you ask?

Well as the story goes in 1643 Lyon was struck by a plague, to spare them from it they decided they would promise to pay tribute to the Virgin Mary. They had a solemn march to the Basilica de Fourvière (which is a focal point of the event) and throughout the streets people lit candles to illuminate their windows. Ever since then the "festival of lights" has evolved to light shows projected on to buildings and other fantastic displays involving lights!

First we must pick a day and this is VERY IMPORTANT

 Usually around 4 million people descend on the city of Lyon to see the spectacles on the weekend of the 8th of December and things kick off the Thursday and finish the Sunday. The problem for us was we decided to go on the 8th which is the most popular time to go. There was an unbelievably great atmosphere as the streets were jam-packed but it made it very hard to get about. The metro system was chaos, in one incident the doors didn't stay open long enough for everyone to get off, parents and children were separated it was chaos! And in another there was a pinch point in the road where people couldn't get through and were being so impatient we were stuck in a rugby like-mawl for 10 minutes, madness!

   

Consider staying in Lyon

When we went we had to get the last train back to Annecy which combined with the crowds and one way systems meant we missed out on some of the shows and made me feel very rushed to get everything ticked off rather than just enjoying the shows. It's probably worth your while staying in Lyon for the weekend if you have the money because there is a lot there!

Getting there

Because I had an extra class I wasn't getting the train with the gang, I headed in a bit later. With the train times being very awkward I decided that I would try out BlaBlacar (a french car-pooling website) after one the teachers recommended it to me.

 I know I had a bit of apprehension about getting in a car with four strangers but I decided to just go with it because my options weren't great. It is a lot cheaper, it was 7 euro less each way than the train and it was a half an hour faster. The thing that really made it worth it though was talking and sharing stories with the people in the car (I was chuffed my French held up for a solid hour and a half) and we even got some great advice about the Metro. Definitely something I will be using again so check it out!

The Light show!

Some of the light shows were unbelievably clever and some were astounding beautiful but on the whole I did feel the whole thing was a bit over-hyped. If I could do it again I would give myself a whole weekend there, with la Fête des Lumières being just one of the stops. don't get me wrong I'm very glad I experienced it i'm just not sure I would go back solely for it. 

P.S. If you do visit Lyon and are looking for somewhere to eat here is a great place to go, try their Tricerahops IPA beer, it was delicious!

As a reward for getting this far down you can check out this little video of Les Anooki getting up to mischief on the opera house's walls.