Geneva!

Bonjour!

Went to Geneva a few days ago and it was lovely, from the train ride to the old town.  The view on the train from Lyon was beautiful, it crosses through mountains, along rivers and past little towns here and there.  It was so interesting in fact, that my dad didn't even want to sit next to me!

The weather was rather dismal when we first arrived, chilly and gray.

This was a tiny island and statue of Jean Jacques Rousseau, Geneva born French philosopher and writer who complained about everything.

Just lounging around on the streets.

Making our way through the old town

And here, the most recognisable landmark in Geneva, the jet d'eau, which shoots 140 m in the air. Also, the weather cleared up!

Obligatory yoga pose in front of the fountain :)

The water in the lake is so clear!  There are swans and ducks all over the place, hoping for a bite of food.

Found a Victorinox store (swiss army knife brand), and there was an entire floor designated for knives, and a little bit of luggage on the side.  I saw these and thought how prepared you would be for anything in life if you had one. 

Geneva was wonderful, and incredibly expensive.  The Swiss dollar is about 1:1 with the American dollar, but with what you could buy for about $10 (USD) or less, you would pay almost double.  In any case, for a day trip it wasn't so bad! 

Medieval Festival in Puy en Velay

Bonsoir mes amis!

Today I went with France (yes, like the country), a teacher who I will be working with, and her family to Les fêtes Renaissance du Roi du l'Oiseau, a medieval festival in Puy en Velay, a small town just south of Saint Etienne.  People came from all over the country either to play tourist, or to partake in the festivities.  To work up an appetite, we climbed to the #4 attraction in France, Saint Michel d'Aiguilhe, a little church built on top of a mountain entirely made of volcanic rock from a neighboring now inactive volcano.  Construction began in the 10th (!!!) century, and I can't even begin to imagine how they got the rocks from the volcano to this city, before making it up the hill.

On another hill is the ever impressive La Madone 

Walking through the city

I ate a medieval themed lunch, duck au confit with lentils, and the dessert was a pear soaked in hypocras, a typical medieval wine with spices and it was delicious!  Then we walked through the medieval market where they had numerous food stands and shops where you could buy medieval costumes, jewelry and weapons! which were fake of course.

At the end of the day there was an hour long parade, filled with people from all over the country, dressed to the nines in their medieval Sunday best.

I forgot to mention that I too, was in costume (borrowed from France) but unfortunately for you (and very fortunately for me), there are no pictures.  If you ever get the chance to go to a Renaissance fair, I highly suggest you take it.  The people were so into it, especially the ones that traveled to Puy en Velay, they stayed in tents outside and burned firewood, like they would have done in the middle ages. (!!!)  Until next time... 

...and I'm back!

Bonjour mes amis!

I'm back in Europe, France to be exact, for another adventure!  I'm an English assistant in two high schools in a small town called Saint Etienne, 40 minutes outside of Lyon (the larger, more well known city in the Rhone-Alpes region, which is also the gastronomical capital of the world !!!).

It was smooth sailing from Honolulu to Paris, where I spent a few days walking around like a zombie, as the time difference is 12 hours, exactly half a world apart.  It was a fairly odd feeling to be wandering a city that was strangely familiar, yet incredibly unfamiliar at the same time.  We arrived on Sunday morning, which was night time for my body (and brain more or less), so to avoid taking a day long nap and staying up all night, I went to the Centre Pompidou, the museum for modern art.  

Sunday is family day for les Francais, and as I walked around half in a daze, I overheard some French children talking to their parents about how some of the paintings reminded them of Picasso.  I thought to myself, in what universe would you ever hear something like that from the mouth of a child not more than 10 years old, and then I saw this:

I guess when practically nothing else is open on Sundays, you take the family to look at art and let the kids do as they please.

On to the next day, and Versailles!  (aka one of the reasons behind the French revolution)

We were lucky to have nice weather, as it was still cloudy and gray back in the city. 

After a few nice (but rainy) days in Paris, I made my way down to Lyon and then to Saint Etienne where the weather has been sunny but rather chilly, at least to someone used to 80 degree weather.

More to come!