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Nuits Sonores

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Lyon: Day 4 with Uffie and Liars

Having spent almost a week in Lyon, it was time to get my shopping fix, so I hit Le Village des Créateurs. Located at Passages Thiaffait, it is a small area occupied by 10 independently run and designed stores. My favs were Vintage Midinette, which is loaded with very Parisian pieces, and Le Tube a Essai, a store run by students from the fashion institute and filled with new designers from around the world. I bought a gorgeous pair of high-waisted paperbag trousers from Romania, a bracelet from China, and a necklace from Lyon at Le Tube a Essai. I always try to buy pieces by local talent from every city I visit, so that was definitely more than well accomplished today.

Having happily spent all my Euros, I picked Uffie up and went to Le Brasserie Georges, a famed Lyon restaurant that is massive and full of atmosphere. It is very French, complete with a live band at the front of the house. It was also a bit of a splurge, but Uffie and I were more than happy to indulge.

We ordered Os à Moelle à la Croque au Sel de Guérande (bone marrow that you spread on bread and top off with crunchy Guerande salt), Escargots de Bourgogne en Coquille (snails from Burgundy drenched in garlic and butter), seafood pasta, a duck plate, and a bottle of this delicious white wine.

While stuffing our faces with food and wine, we chatted about her new album Sex Dreams and Denim Jeans, her adorable 7-month old daughter Henrietta, and the pressures and stress of her current insanely packed schedule.

The absurd/delicious highlight at Georges was this dessert bomb that had ice cream and cake in the centre with a fluffy meringue shell that was lit on fire. It got completely devoured.

After our huge meal, we went back to Marche Gare, the home of Nuits Sonores, and met up with the hilarious Angus and Aaron from Liars backstage.

After joking about our height difference and how ridiculous we look together (I'm 5'2" and Angus is over 6'5"), we scoured the backstage area and tried some Liars comedy with new friends.

In-person, the personality of Liars is a drastic contrast to the dark and often-described as "creepy" sound of their most recent album, Sisterworld. Angus says that they will be hitting Pop Montreal this year, so look out for that. Aaron also talked about his skills in the kitchen (he's cooked cow tongue for Angus in the past), so don't be surprised if you see me do an edition of In the Kitchen With... Liars one day.

At this point, it was about 1am, so we ran to catch Uffie, saw a bit of Gang of Four, hit the candy table, and ended our amazing run of Nuits Sonores with Liars on the outdoor stage.

Thanks to all the bands who experienced Lyon with me and the tourism office & ATOUT France for making it all come together for us!

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Lyon: Day 3 with Busy P and BEN

Currently running right now at the Contemporary Art Museum of Lyon is the extraordinary retrospective exhibit by BEN. The three-level exhibit is a wild experience taking you from his well-known statement pieces like "tout est art" ("all is art" in English) to his stream of conscious work, to these huge structures like the crazy house below (at the very bottom) where every inch has been meticulously detailed with objects that speak to BEN's political and social views.

After having my mind officially blown, I ran over to this crazy little party called Mini Sonores. Nuits Sonores is so passionate and supportive of electronic music that they started a festival to mold and train future festival-goers.

DJing at the inauguration of the event was Ed Banger's Busy P who brought out the jams from Uffie, Daft Punk, and Major Lazer to the riled up crowd of kiddies. Mini Sonores is open to kids aged 4-10, and trust me, these kids put us to shame. They jumped up on top of the deck, climbed on top of Busy P, and surrounded him way past his set was done, encouraging the famed DJ to keep entertaining them.

Tomorrow, I get my indie designer and vintage shopping fill at Le Village des Créateurs, take Uffie out for a fancy dinner at a bouchon, and meet up with Liars backstage to close off Nuits Sonores.

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Lyon: Day 2 at Nuits Sonores

Day 2 began with a gorgeous stroll around the old city of Lyon. Here, there are incredible buildings with a strong Italian influence that are connected by these cool passages via alleyways called a "traboule."

It's a pretty rad experience going through these traboules because if it's your first time walking in, you have no idea what to expect at the end of the passage. I can guess that this is probably a very popular make-out spot. My favourite traboule ended with this apartment and abandoned well.

After dinner at Kys along the Rhone River, I hit some Nuits Sonores parties that were also happening on the water. Tsugi's party was INSANE. Even though every corner of Lyon was throwing a party, when we were leaving in the early morning, there was still a huge crowd waiting to get in.

This is me and Marine from the Lyon tourism office getting a taste of why Nuits Sonores is one of the best electronic music fests around.

Tomorrow, we hit the quirky and political BEN exhibit at the Contemporary Art Museum and meet up with Busy P at Mini Sonores (an electronic dance party for kids aged 4-10... amazing).

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Lyon: Day 1 with Almighty Defenders and Thee Oh Sees

The 2-hour train ride from Paris to Lyon was absolutely stunning. Right now in Lyon is the Nuits Sonores music festival where acts like Liars, Almighty Defenders, Busy P, and Uffie are performing.

My first introduction to Lyon was meeting up with John and Brigid from Thee Oh Sees and visiting the Parc de la Tete d'Or... I'm definitely not used to this gorgeous setting as a festival backdrop. It was the first time in the French city for all three of us, so it was really nice to be able to experience a day in Lyon together.

Brigid's bike got a flat tire and my bike was way too big for me, so it definitely got interesting. After the park, we went to a massive market called Les Halles Paul Bocuse where we ate the most amazing macarons and a Lyon-specialty called Les Veritables Tartes a la Praline at the Seve patisserie. Don't let the bright blood-red fool you, it's actually really delicious (*note the almost empty box).

After dropping off John and Brigid, I met up with King Khan and Cole from Almighty Defenders for a very appropriate wine-tasting. I had a feeling this would be a good time.

I can't even remember how many different wines we tasted before we asked for the spit-bucket. If you're a wine lover, it is a must to go for a wine-tasting in Lyon. I guarantee you will experience the best wines in your lifetime. I took the boys to Vavro & Co which is owned by a wife and husband duo who were incredibly friendly and knowledgeable.

From the car ride to the wine-tasting, Cole and King Khan had me in a constant laughing fit. King Khan, the ever-generous dude that he is, insisted I accept his strawberry shower -cap beret and wear it during the tasting. It goes well with the outfit, no?

I was so impressed with Cole's curiosity about the history and emotion of each wine we tasted. Hearing him say: "I can really taste the 10 year old air in this" was the best highlight. He actually ended up buying a 1967 vintage. 

After a wine-tasting in Lyon, what else do you do but go out for a swanky dinner, right? The lovely ladies from the tourism office, Sophie and Marine, took us for a swish meal at Silk.

Here are are some shots from Thee Oh Sees show later that night at Marche Gare:

Coming up: look out for posts on where to eat in Lyon, cute places to shop, and of course, more gallivanting around the city with badass bands.

Bonne nuit xx

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