Alas, the period of mourning is over...

To all my beloved readers....

I am truly sorry for the month long hiatus I have taken from this blog. It was due to the fact that my dear, dear digital camera was stolen a month ago at a bar here in Lyon called the Q-Boat.

Whoever the horrible person was who took my camera, I hope that it takes horrible pictures for you and I hope that karma finds you well. That being said, it took me a while to muster up the emotional strength to continue writing this blog. So until I get back to the U.S. and can buy a new camera, please bear with my posts as I am going to have to dig deep into the unknown corners of 'My Pictures' to produce the ever-popular blogs you have come to enjoy. And to kick of this new period of my blog [sans digi cam] I shall quote one of my previous post titles...

LET THE GAMES [RE]BEGIN !!!

R.I.P.

DIGI CAM TZ5

Give the damn thief hell !!!

This is Veronique, the American formerly known as Ceci...signing out!

*This is my "death look" for the person who stole my camera!

**Disclaimer: My "death look" is not actually meant to impart death on anyone....it is merely meant as "you-are-a-punk-and-may-karma-kick-ya-where-the-good-Lord-split-ya-and-may-your-children-look-like-monkeys"

Institute Lumiere

is where people go to learn how to play the character of Lumiere in Beauty & the Beast

Ok...
I really hope you didnt believe that.


It's actually the house where the Brothers Lumiere grew up.
So who cares right?
Well if you own, use, have ever used a camera, or have any pictures in your control....then you should!! If you own, rent, watch, or have ever watched a movie....you should!! These guys invented the snapshot camera, color photos, as well as the movie projector, the camera that records movies, and they were the first to ever make a film, show a movie to a public audience and the first to ever charge admission. Makes you feel pretty incompetent huh??

And even more bizzzaro is that their last name means Light.....?? Coincidence?? I think not!
Well they grew up in Lyon and invented and did all the above mentioned shiz in Lyon....so here you go....your very own tour!

This is what their house looks like.....its a mini replica....

Here is their parents room....their father owned one of four telephones in existence in Lyon around the mid 1800s. They other 3 belonged to the mayor, military, and the regional government building. So they were the only civilians to own a phone at the time.....crazy huh?

Brothers Lumiere invented the below glass plates for which a snapshot could be recorded on...

And the first color photo...

Basically the camera used to look like this, and you had to hire a pro chemist to mix some black goo that they spread on a plate, then pressed a button, and you had to sit there for at least 8 min while the camera took your photo. Cool huh? No.... So the Lumiere Brothers invented this glass plate with premade dry film on it that you placed in a camera,which they also invented, and bam in one second you get a photo, then you take the glass plate(s) to a developer and you could have as many photos printed out as you wanted.....so thanks to them, the camera was thus able to be used by the everyday man and mass printed.

Here are some more photos of their house ....

Here is a mini replica of where they shot the first film....its workers leaving their father's factory.

The first movie 'projecteur'

My class at the exact location where the first film was shot, pretending to be workers leaving the factory.

And yes, because I am me, I had my class reenact the first film for my readers!

They tore down the old factory to make a movie theatre for the Institute but they kept the roof from where the workers exited during the first shoot.

Me on the exact spot where the camera was placed to make the first film.....

Hope you enjoyed the tour, and if you are at all confused by my version of what the tour guide said, or you would like to know more....I encourage you to do some online research and you can even youtube the first film by typing "workers leaving the factory" Enjoy!

This is Veronique, the American formerly known as Ceci...signing out!

*My first and only dirty martini....yuck

Half Birthday's are the Best!

This blog is a little out of date order....but I thought you would want to know.... also this one has a video!!

Well, my half birthday was on September 23rd and we all know I love any reason to celebrate.....so being the wonderful honey bunny that he is, my sugar pie took me out for my favorite....wine and cheese!! The place he took me to was to DIE FOR!!!! I don't think we had a chance to say more than 10 words to each other because we were too busy salavating. The chef buys all of his meats and cheeses fresh from a pedestrian market near one of the rivers here in Lyon. And what makes them so good you ask? They are not allowed, off limits, illegal in the US....yup thats right baby, Im eating across enemy lines!! The reason they arent't allowed is because the cheese is fermented right out of the cow's/goat's udder. Zero amount of pasteurization!!! And it's like the drug of the cheese world....once it hits your lips....you're addicted! Basically the french aren't afraid to go "au naturel" !!!


So find out out your half birthday and/or the date of your conception and celebrate it.....you know you always wanted to celebrate your birthday twice, thrice...who cares..?!







I was super duper lucky to get a second sussssprise!!
An at home wine and cheese night!! Ohh la la!
(You're probably wondering where the meat is....but that came later!!)

Here is Dolce wanting a piece of the action!

Had to pause for a photo opp!!!

And here is for all ya'll Dolce fans!



This is Veronique, the American formerly known as Ceci...signing out!

Lawyers are always more ready to get a man into troubles than out of them

And that's exactly what happened!!

Here in France you have a sort of grad school for lawyers so they can become big time and even more lawyer-ish or something like that. So after deciding that being just a level one lawyer wasn't good enough, going through one year of even more hellacious studying and cramming, and after completing their first set of exams, Stephane and his fellow lawyers/classmates decided it was time to defy the law....of alcohol consumption! Naturally I felt I should join them in their endeavors.

So we started the evening eating Mexican food.....it was actually pretty decent, except for the definition they gave for a taco was that it was a sandwich from Mexico?? And their Tequila was no bueno.....but aside from that, they get an A for effort.

And they even had tortillas......






After, we worked our way to an "american" bar, they play top-40, serve Bud and Corona, and its the only bar in town that offers 2 poles to dance on!!! But you have to pry the 16 year old girls off of them first. I guess there is a perk to the american 21&up rule......

I don't know where he got these from, but they look good......on Woody Allen hahahaha

Before the drinks...

Still before the drinks hahaha

And sadly, yes.....still before the drinks



Then we went to a pirate themed bar....arggghh!





Is this what they mean when they say "Get some Booty?"


The legally tipsy lawyers

The legally blonde, tipsy lawyer groupie

The spanish girl praying for the answer to why her american friend is soooooooo strange.

But she forgot that Jesus is my Homeboy!


For the protection of the parties involved we had to keep out the more provactive and drunk photos. We wouldn't want to provide any evidence....at least not until after they pass the test, muahahaha


Sorry for the delay, I was busy doing crazy things & taking photos, so I have more of your favorite blogs to write!!


This is Veronique, the American formerly known as Ceci...signing out!

Golden Head

So economic financial crisis and the proposed $700billion bail-out plan aside,
what other reason do you folks have for not coming to visit me in Lyon, France?
Vous ne parlez pas francais??

Well its alright cause I am here doing the touristy thing in Lyon for ya'll!!
First stop...Golden Head Park!!! (hu hu hu) Ok technically Park of the Head of Gold, but golden head just sounds like more fun! It's called "Parc de la Tete-d'or" ...Tete means 'head' and Or means 'gold'....de/d' means 'of' and la means 'the'.....so there ya go!

Well, I went here a few weeks back when it was still hot but I figured you wanted to read about my drunken adventures first....

So Golden Head Park...here we come!!

*Just a side note, the park is named Golden Head Park because apparently the designer buried the golden head of Jesus H. Christ somewhere on the grounds...I'm coming here for Easter!!Why search for Easter eggs when you can search for the golden head of J.C. !!!

The grand main gate, but there are 7 other entrances to be exact.

Where is the golden head....

I don't know what this was supposed to symbolize other than sometimes one needs help moving one's ball.

The following are a series of artistic pictures that I call "Reflections on a Tree"

Pretty Lake

You can rent boats and go explore the lake...

Course we did!!!

Row Row Row your boat.....

The Rose Garden

And they have a free Zoo!!

The Lions of Lyon!!!!

The Elphalents!!!!! Thats how my lil sis used to call them when she was little!

I hope the Golden Head is not buried in there!!

And the giraffes!!!

And some kind of longhorn looking thing...I heard Mexico was missing their national animal!

Sorry this was super short....but I currently suffering from severe sinus problems!

But I want to keep my readers happy and informed!!

ByTheWay....Ya'll better stay tuned for the Presidential Debates with and I quote "Candy McCain and Obama Rama(who went to my college, Occidental College, for 2 years!! Whoot Whoot!!)

This is Veronique, the American formerly know as Ceci...signing out!

*I am officially french now