Well it is December - I only have 2 classes and 4 finals left for school. Things are ramping up and winding down. On Monday & tuesday I have my last 2 classes then it's a bunch of studying.
On Saturday I had my first real adventure outside of Lyon. It didn't involve washing dishes - I went to Avignon with one of my friends. It was really neat. First - I got to drive. I haven't driven since the end of August & I had never driven in France. The last time I drove in a foreign country (Czech Republic) I got pulled over & the policeman took all of my money. That didn't happen yesterday. I also didn't kill anyone and we all made it in 1 piece. I did get my picture taken - flashed - a couple of times because I was speeding - but good luck finding me... All in all it was a successful trip. It was 2 hours away. The day started off kind of chilly but it was a sunny day. Since we were further south it was a little warmer. Avignon is a walled city. One of the popes built the walls. It is one of the best examples of tourets and something else still standing in the world. Like everything else here it was really old. They have a palace of the popes there. In 1309 (700 years ago!!!) a pope (Clement V) built a castle/palace and in 100 years 9 popes lived there and the castle expanded. In the 1400's there was a fire & then the church turned over the property right before the Feench Revolution. It only took 29 years to build - Amazing since some of the walls are 17ft thick. I learned a lot of things. Like the pope was the only person allowed to have his own knife during dinner parties. Also you were only allowed to eat the food that was directly around you - no passing. The dinner parties were between 4 and 9 courses. In 1352 the papal mass for All Saints Day was held there. During a papal installation ceremony dinner they used 39,000 eggs - lots of other stuff too but I only remember the number of eggs for some reason. We toured the palace - it was nice. It was also the first place that let me use my student card to get a discount - I finally wasn't too old to get it!
There was also a bridge there. It starts across the Rhone river but after a great flood - much more than half of it disappeared & I guess they just never fixed it.
When we got back to Lyon - this weekend is the fete des lumieres. The festival of lights. People create light installations on buildings & stuff. There are like 2 or 3 million people here to see it. Too many people in my opinion. What I saw I wasn't impressed with but I didn't really see much. On Tuesday the 8th is the official day so I will see what I can see then. Hopefully all of the tourists will be gone.
Sunday - today... We were supposed to go watch fireworks but it was raining so we didn't go. Annabelle made an onion tart for dinner. It was really good. It's not something I would have done on my own - but it really worked. All that was in it was a crust, onions, cheese & black olives. Simple but delicious! Then we started hanging up Christmas decorations.
More later... Happy St. Nick's Day!
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