Christmas in Lyon - Part 1

Our living room mantle.

This is Anna’s favorite time of the year. She loves shopping for presents for people, decorating our abode, seeing all the displays, hearing and singing carols…all of it. And, Lyon is definitely a fun city at this time of the year! The Fete des Lumieres (see December 12th blog) had kicked off the festivities, and the main streets down town still have the lovely lights that extend overhead from one end of the street to the other. And, of course, merchants and restaurants have decorated their windows, store fronts, and interiors as well.



We had done our Christmas shopping for the US early and got all but one package mailed well before December. That just left shopping for each other and Estelle’s family.


Shopping for Hex Bugs

Here's what Hex Bug Nanos look like.

We asked Estelle what her boys would like for Christmas, and she told us Victor would like Hex Bugs. Huh?? We asked her to spell it and knew no more than we did before. After checking on the web, we found that there are two sizes of Hex Bugs. The larger ones are about the size of the palm of your hand and look like actual insects, spiders, crabs, whatever. The smaller ones are known as Nano Hex Bugs, are about 1” long, and come in a variety of colors. One can also purchase a modular “Habitat” to keep the Nanos somewhat confined. Both the large and small versions move around on their own (like bugs)and react to their environment (change direction when necessary, etc.), and, thankfully, all come with on-off switches. Armed with this information, Anna went in search of Hex Bugs while David was recovering from a bug of his own. “ I lost count of the number of toy stores and electronics stores I tried, but I covered a lot of ground. Most had never heard of Hex Bugs and looked at me as if I had lost my senses, some tried to sell me Xboxes, two stores had people who actually knew what I was looking for (but didn’t have them), and one person told me that ToysRUs had an “exclusive” on them.” Armed with that last bit of information, we ventured out to ToysRUs (at the end of a Tram line, on the outskirts of town). It was snowing, and it took us a while to find the store after we got off the Tram, but it’s hard to miss something as large as a ToysRUs store even if it’s on the other side of a hill. We split up and searched the store without success; then we looked at the display at the end of the row where we were standing. Voila! Hex Bugs, LOTS of Hex Bugs, and even some “habitat” kits. Mission accompIished!

Part 2 to come.