I made it to Genève! (This is Geneva in French.) Kimmie was there to meet me at the airport, and then take me to the train station to drop off my stuff and then to her local farmer's market. Isn't that nice? I don't need that kind of help, but denying an offer to have a local show you around is just silly.
Kimmie and I have been to countless farmers markets together, but never in Switzerland.
There are definitely different options, like homemade pasta...
and homemade cheese and yogurt. Mmmmm.
And the baby makes three.
Lea slept the whole time.
Did I mention that I only had a three hour window? When there is a window there is a way...
Kimmie introduced me to chocolate brioche. I cannot even begin to describe...
When will biking ever catch on in the US?
Two hours later I arrived in Lyon. After meeting my lovely Airbnb hosts, knowing that I had a day less than originally planned due to...not a strike, I set out to explore the city.
I took the funicular to the basilique Notre- Dame de Fourvière.
The church was built in 1872, as a vow from the bishop of Lyon if the Prussians spared Lyon during the Franco-Prussian war.
In the very center of this photograph, overseen by the Virgin Mary herself, is the Fan Zone. When I got onto the metro I heard announcements that the Fan Zone was full but didn't understand Fan Zones until later. They are stadiums established all over Europe for football fans (what we think of as soccer, but the whole world knows as football) to watch live broadcasts of matches. It is free to enter. It is just a way to enjoy the game with the excitement of being surrounded by football fans.
Lyon was built right on top of two thousand year old Roman ruins.
And just to continue to build upon a previous culture's hard work, the theater which was built in 15 BC, is now used for summer festivals. The theater was built to seat 10,000 since, during Roman time, when the city was known as Lugdunum, there were between 50,000 and 80,000 inhabitants.
I then walked through Vieux Lyon (old town).
I got suckered into getting the prettiest flower gelato I have seen. It was really good, but I think I paid a euro extra for the aesthetics.
Revelry.
"Ole, ole, oleyyyyy, ole oleyyy!" (repeat one thousand times).
I know the words!
The game got out...
Botellón is a serious issue they have in Spain, but I had no idea it was going on in other areas of Europe. Because it is legal to drink in the streets, people partying after the big game left their trash right in the streets.
They continued to party into the night but the cops did nothing since there were no laws being broken. I don't want to get on my soapbox (I brought a travel sized one in my carry-on), but something has to change. I don't think that our trigger and ticket happy cops are the answer, but the opposite doesn't work either. There has to be order, People.
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