Days of wine and roses laugh and run away like a child at play. - Johnny Mercer.

There are very few things in life that have the potential to make a person feel as incredibly French as the idea of attending a wine festival.  And that is exactly what we did last night; the third Thursday in November is particularly important in the French wine-making calendar as it is the date on which the ‘Beaujolais Nouveau’ is unveiled – an event which arouses a great deal of excitement in France and led to the majority of the Lyonnaise population descending upon the old part of town in order to sample the new wine.

A wonderful atmosphere, lots of vin chaud and chocolate crepes and a handful of street performers; I don’t think the evening could have been more up my street if it’d really tried!  We spent quite some time wandering up and down the crowded streets, absorbing the excitable mood – it all felt very Christmassy and I am now more excited than ever about the lead up to the festive season in Lyon.

 

Anyway, I am off to Avignon for the weekend and I really must start packing so I shall leave you with these photos of lasts night’s fun and promise to return with more tales of my French adventures on Monday.  I apologise for the blurriness of the photos, my rather ancient camera does not deal very well with the lack of light provided by night-time street festivals!