Lyon lights festival

For four nights each year, Lyon lights up big time. Le Fête des Lumières (the Festival of Lights) is a chance for creative people who like bright things to impress us all with their imagination. Below are just a few of the light shows I snapped when walking around town.

Apart from the typical annoyances of overcrowded streets, street sellers shouting about their tacky illuminated santa hats and a taxi trying to reverse in a pedestrianised area, the fete was a bit confusing. I should have printed out the maps from the website and I should have researched the attractions a bit more, but I didn’t. There were some maps dotted around the streets, but the numbered dots to for attractions were not accompanied with a list of what the numbers were for. We eventually found the outlet providing paper maps with the numbers listed too, but by then, we had walked like cattle for hours and were ready to go home. And actually, it was the walk back to the car that I really enjoyed. The car was parked in the Croix Rousse part of Lyon, which is up a hill, made easier to climb with wide stairs up the long street. Along these stairs, people were selling soup, hot wine, fairy floss (called ‘Dad’s beard’ in France), hot dogs and all sorts of other foods, with some stands providing live music (everything from drum troupes to violins), giving the street a real atmosphere. At the top of the street is a garden, and in it were a whole lot of giant colourful neon flowers (pictured in the last photo, above). “Not subtle,” according to my friend, but that’s fine by me: flowers and lights are best that way in my books. Yes, the other displays were innovative and complicated, but the simplicity of the flowers really struck a chord with me. Every town should have them.

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