Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?

" The younger brother must help to pay for the pleasures of the elder."

~Jane Austen, Mansfield Park

Considering all the "pleasures" I've had as the oldest child.....

Muah-haha-haha!

A thousand apologies to my all of my readers for letting so long go by without a blog. I was in the south of France for several days (life is hard) and then I had a bit of french homework to catch up on. So now you can rest your nerves and let all those withdrawl symptoms go, I am back to my ever-so-entertaining blog.

It's a new post on my blog and a new day in Lyon...

*View from my kitchen balcony

So, where did we leave off?

Ah yes, the mini-vacations we took to Erquy and Nantes with my brother. Once we got back to Lyon, my brother had about a week and a half left here in France. I had to make sure it was jam packed with lots of fun and educational activities!

1.) International Appreciation

Being that I go to school with kids not from France....I am now one of the "international kids"

So I gathered a few of my other classmates and we showed my brother a good time.

I think my brother was a bit scared cause one kid was asking my brother if he had ever tried swedish meatballs, another asked him if he wanted to try a spanish tortilla, and yet another asked if he was familier with irish creamer ???

At the restaurant, a "french" magician came up to the table and said he would use his "french" magic to take my bra off without even touching it !! (It must be a popular french trick because I think I have been told that before by another frenchman)

*For those of you wondering, he secretly had previously tied to two ends of a handkerchief to a black bra (not mine) and once he said "Voila" everyone thinks it was my bra, but I think he shouldn't have used an A-cup and picked me as the model ! Just sayin'

2.) Urban Art

I'm not such a bad influence, I tought my brother some cultural artsy things too. One of the things Lyon is famous for are the street paintings on walls that are made to look like a real apartment building with people looking out from their window, or leaning off their balcony or as if a person was really leaning out of a bakery window. Generally, the people portrayed on these walls are famous people of Lyon from various centuries. The name for this kind of art, in french, is called "trompe l'oeil " (pronounced "tromp loy") or "trick the eye" The definition from Wikipedia may define it better for me,

"[trompe l'oeil] is an art technique involving extremely realistic imagery in order to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects appear in three-dimensions, instead of actually being a two-dimensional painting.

*Take 1

*Take 2

* I wanted to show you a close up of one of the people on the balcony. I have a lot of friends who are into film, acting, cinema, etc. This is a tribute to them. The two gentlemen depicted here the Lumiere Brothers and are credited with inventing the cinema, the motion picture camera that projects a film and the world's first public film screening. So thanks to them, you can watch all those fantastic movies on the big screen. A funny side note, lumiere (pronounced "loom-ee-air") means "light" in english. Coincidence?... I think not.

*The thingy that the Brothers Lumiere invented

*The wonderful and amazing world renowned french chef ... Paul Bocuse.

**Vincent wanted to pet his dog

3.) Religious Education

I had to teach my brother about the most important saint...

The amazingly old and intricate art work of the really old churches

and the influence of gothic architecture on the ...umm....churches of old

*yes we actually attended the service. Contrary to popular belief the Barretto family is composed of members who are extremely dedicated and devout Catholics but who also enjoy the pleasures and luxuries of life in moderation. Moderation is relative.

Holy Mary, Mother of God...a once in a lifetime experience,

we got to see up close and personal the ever famous Golden Virgin Mary (1843), who was removed from her place on one of the Basilica's steeples overlooking the city, for a cleaning. This rarely happens! But you can see the footage of her removal on youtube! Type: "Descente de la vierge dorée - Pastorale Jeunes Diocèse Lyon" in the search bar!

*You can see the Golden Virgin Mary on the left

On your next visit to Europe, prepare to spend all of your time inside the magnificent cathedrals...like so

After all this intense cultural/educational experience Vincent looked like this...

Being that my brother was tired and had a tough week, I felt like I needed to give him the right phrase to help him get through such a time, and I think I speak for all my fellow adults when I say the correct phrase is, " I NEED A DRINK!"

Being that drinking in public is against the law everywhere except Las Vegas, the french quarter in New Orleans, and Fiesta...

NYPD came to issue a ticket and protect the streets of Lyon!

With that being said.....I need a drink !

Stay tuned for the next post where we journey to Paris to take my little bro to the airport to return home to the good ole US of A!

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