Off To The Games We Go

On Wednesday, July 24th, I was able to purchase tickets and watch Olympique Lyonnais play Real Madrid in the Grand Stade of Lyon. I purchased the tickets for a very cheap price at Fnac about a two-three weeks prior to the game. I had never been to a real football game before this, and I had the best experience watching it. I thought I might get bored, like the Red Sox game I watched this summer, but it was completely different! The Lyonnais team was playing so well, which made the crowd so excited. I wanted to cheer for Real Madrid, but it was difficult when a few thousand people were cheering for Lyon and were completely drowning my screams of victory. I was impressed at how well the Lyonnais team was playing against such a skilled team, Real Madrid: it made for a good show.

I took several videos of how hyped the crowd was before the game started (when the players walked out onto the field), when Lyon scored both of it's goals, and during one of the chanting sessions. Unfortunately, I have not figured out how to convert the file just yet so that I can post it here, but I should be able to soon. 

My ticket only cost me 11 euro! My seat was quite far from the field, but it was still worth it!

Anxiously waiting for the game to begin!

We had arrived about 45 mins before the game started, but by the time the game was about to start, the whole stadium was completely full and sold out.

I believe this was the Lyonnais team training a few minutes before the game.

This is a practice I have yet to understand: the field is made wet just before the players come on, and also at half-time. 

When Real Madrid came onto the field, the "boo's" from the crowd were so loud and absolutely hilarious.

Lyon played a very, VERY good game that evening.

Half-time pictures! Haha.

The whole stadium was completely full of supportive Lyonnais people.

The referee gladly gave out a few yellow cards that evening to Real Madrid, much to the approval of the audience.

I wanted to see if I could get a shot of Cristiano Ronaldo, but my camera isn't that good. 

The game ended with 2 - 2.

Musée des Tissus et des Arts Décoratifs de Lyon

A day after visiting the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon, I went to visit the museum of cloth and furniture of Lyon, Musée des Tissus et des Arts Décoratifs de Lyon. This museum was a mixture of cool and funky furniture and the history of cloth and clothing in Europe. I really enjoyed this museum since it was such a large change from the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon. Unfortunately, I was unable to take many pictures since they did not allow pictures since many of the pieces were up for sale. I did catch some shots of some interesting looking chairs and dresses!

Outside of the museum, there were various chairs  and seats made from different materials up for sale. They were absolutely gorgeous.

These are a few of the students trying out the various chairs. They were all made of different materials.

This was an awesome display of seats and chairs. These were all for sale. I love how creative the museum was in displaying the chairs.

The material used to make this piece of clothing was absolutely gorgeous. I can't recall what era this was from though.

If I am correct, this was a dress used to go spend some time outdoors. 

A lot of these dressed looked like they were made for children and not fully grown and developed women.

For once, an 18th century dress that could possibly fit me.

If only I could force my waist to be that small, I'm sure it would crack a rib though.

The Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon

On July 18th, 2013, I visited the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon. It was absolutely gorgeous and very, very large. Like many of the other museums in Lyon, this one consisted of four floors and multiple rooms all depicting the artwork of different eras and different nations. This was museum was very different to the Museum of Miniatures because of the size of most of the pieces, as well as how famous some of the pieces were. In the other museum I could glance at many of the pieces and keep on walking, but in the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon you are forced to really look at the paintings and pieces due to the detail and the grandness of it all. I truly enjoyed this museum. 

I would say that the most interesting rooms for me was the room filled with sculptures of the 19th century, the Egyptian display filled with slabs of stone in hieroglyphics and tombs, and the rooms with artwork depicting Jesus, or more popular stories of the bible. To me it is absolutely beautiful how these artists portray Jesus, the saints and the Virgin Mary in a manner or style they thought Jesus was. I would have added significantly more pictures of the artwork depicting Jesus and biblical stories, but I realized I already had many below.

Please excuse the lack of description, title's and artists for paintings. I was meant to blog about this when I still remembered the pieces. I guess the biggest recurring mistake I make is, "It's totally fine, I'll remember that later", and then I never do. So enjoy the image with knowing the title or the artist. Je suis tres desole!

This museum along with various other buildings in Lyon have very beautiful and decorative exteriors.

The garden outside the museum.

I still don't quite understand the French obsession with nudity, both male and female...

My friends and I were quite excited to be checking out the museum :)!

While waiting for our tickets, we were treated to this..

It still dazzles me how artists paint murals on ceilings or that are the size of a wall with so much detail and precision.

Instead of tour guides we had these devices which, when you input a number corresponding to the piece of art, it gives you the history to the item. It was really quite cool, but rather funny-looking, haha. 

This was a cool looking mini statue of liberty, not too sure who created it.

This reminded me of the old testament in Bible where people had to sacrifice animals or give their best products to God in order to be forgiven for their sins, versus in the new testament where Jesus has died for our sins, so we don't sacrifice anymore. 

These statues were absolutely massive. Again, how do the artists make them so precise and detailed?!

This just creeped me out a little, but looked interesting at the same time.

Please excuse the extreme nudity. 

This statue was about three times my size. Quite intimidating.

This material must have been very difficult to work with, but still it is absolutely gorgeous. 

I believe this is what the tombs used to look like for the ancient Egyptian royals. 

A sole picture cannot capture the beauty in the decoration of these.

The museums has various slabs of stone with Hieroglyphics on them. Very beautiful.

This wall was probably 3 meters in height.

I don't quite remember, but I think this slab was of the ancient Greeks... I may be wrong.

I think this was Greek pottery, but I am not too sure. 

Ancient armor. I wonder if it actually protected the soldiers? It just looks like a carved tin can...

I really wouldn't mind having this mirror in my house, haha. So much marble and detail.

I just loved the detail in this piece and how it portrayed various stories in just one.

The Virgin Mary.

Saints Barbe, Madeline and Catherine.

There were so many different interpretations of Jesus, I was really enjoying looking at it.

This was probably my favorite because in this I could almost feel the emotion being portrayed on mother Marys' and Jesus' face.

This armor found in the Middle Eastern section was really interesting and beautiful.

This piece was on a background like a painting, but then it was a sculpture coming out at you. It was very beautiful. 

I wonder what it would feel like to be in one of these suits...

I believe this covered all the saints and Jesus at the very top.

This was a very pretty interpretation of Mother Mary and Jesus.

This was a magnificently large door, which I found interesting because most of the doors and doorways I have seen are absolutely miniscule. Very beautiful.

I am actually obsessed with furniture, especially of the early 1900's, so I found this beautiful.

This was part of the bedroom set. The furniture is just so smooth and beautiful.

This was probably the most breath-taking piece in the whole museum. Ten people, if not more, could probably fit on the painting laying down. The detail on this was amazing. I almost wish I could go into the head of the painter, or watch him paint this. 

These were the lining the top of the building. I hadn't noticed until I was exiting the building.

I really wouldn't mind living in this museum...