Time Difference: -8 hours (from Brisbane)
Soundtrack: Screaming Trees, Marilyn Manson, QOTSA, Desert Sessions
Currently Inspired by: "There is not one blade of grass, not one colour in the world, that is not intended to make us rejoice" John Calvin
Words written: 79,111
Following on from the end of my last blog, fortunately the
guy I had contacted so late for his details did get back to me and I was able
to stay with him in Geneva. He was a
terrific host, showed me around the place and took me out for dinner on my
first night, made me so comfortable and ensured I had everything I needed. For anyone who is considering travelling I
highly recommend Couch Surfing, it’s a fantastic initiative. Like any online service it’s bound to have
its share of bad eggs but if you’re careful, check references and go with your
gut I think you’ll be fine. I have used
it three times in cities where I couldn’t find accommodation within my budget and
everyone has been great.
Why haven’t I used it for the entire year, you ask, and not
paid for accommodation anywhere? I have certainly
met people who have been doing that, and who also have been hitchhiking
everywhere, spending money on food only.
Well first of all, I feel uncomfortable being a guest in people’s
homes. It’s stressful. I feel like I’m imposing constantly. Secondly, I feel like I need to pay back into
the universe what I have taken from it, indeed that is the main premise of
Couch Surfing, so this way I only need to have 3 people come and stay with me
when I’m back in Australia and have a place, rather than 100! :)
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| A very unusual cathedral |
Geneva was about as exciting as Zurich ie. not terribly, and
I was glad I was only there for one full day.
Zurich and Geneva were the only places I booked for such short periods
so I must have had some kind of presentiment.
Although neat and clean, with some interesting architecture and water features,
neither contains anything that hasn’t been done ten times bigger and better in
any other major European city. The only
thing I saw that I hadn’t seen anywhere else was Protestant Reformation Museum, which was
actually quite interesting. I knew
little about the Calvinists or that whole movement really, and I didn’t realise
that Geneva was called the Refuge City because it’s where the reformers came
while their kith and kin were being burnt elsewhere for heresy. It was quite silly of me not to visit lakes
and mountains while in Switzerland, but I guess I know for next time. At
least the chocolate was amazing, if expensive!
Everything was expensive in Switzerland.
It was the first country I have been to since I left, that was actually
more expensive than Australia. Click here to see the pictures I did get in Geneva.
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| Pic from the net for you! |
I caught a train rather eagerly to Lyon in France where I
was to remain for the next four full days, and it did not disappoint. Some people get freaked out when they think
about cooking in the French style but I don’t think it’s that complicated
really. I think it’s a matter of excellent
quality fresh produce and proper technique.
I had some wonderfully simple and surprisingly tasty dishes while I was
there in cafes but actually the best dinner I had was one I scoffed in my room after
visiting a fresh food market. I picked
up a petit fresh goats cheese, an
avocado, a still-warm crusty bread roll and half a kilo of cherries, and that
was it. Utterly delicious. Despite the profusion of patisseries lining
the streets with their multicoloured window displays of macaroons, tarts,
chocolate, caramel and cream everything, I didn’t have a dessert whilst in
Lyon. Twice I actually walked into a
patisserie and twice I walked out again after massive lines and slow service
gave me time to reconsider the ridiculous number of calories. I still haven’t decided if that was a good
thing or a really, really, really stupid thing.
As a result I don’t have any mouth watering French desserts in the food
album for you I’m afraid!
Having hoped before I arrived that the famous French
rudeness might be limited to Paris only, I was disappointed when I was hung up
on by a French lady while attempting to order a taxi in English over the phone
and also to note that for the most part I was treated with a kind of grudging
sullenness in shops and cafes, despite the fact that I said hello, thank you,
please in French, ordered what I wanted and asked questions in French wherever
possible. No doubt my accent gave me
away as a tourist, but shouldn’t you get points for trying? Like everything, there were exceptions, and I
did meet some very friendly people. Not
enough to dispel my impression of French people as being generally ruder than
other nationalities, however.
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| My red face from the climb! Haha |
There is a stunning cathedral that sits atop a very high
hill in Lyon, and I felt rather triumphant after scaling my way up there, despite
it taking much longer than I expected. I
took a wrong turn and had to head back down about a third of the way in order to
go back up again, which was heartbreaking at the time, but the view from the
foundation of the cathedral was worth the effort, and the scent of the gardens
on the way up was spectacular! I’ve never been so
engulfed by scent, it was truly divine.
Lyon is a pretty city, divided into three parts by two green rivers and
as such has a profusion of bridges that connect the different areas, so you can
imagine it was really nice to see from a distance. The cathedral itself managed to elicit a tiny
gasp even from this jaded vagabond, as its exterior was partially and painstakingly
constructed from the palest pink veined marble, a material that I have rarely
seen on the exterior of a building, and I could easily have spent an hour or
more staring at all the designs and figures.
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| One of many beauties |
Lyon has quite a few other drawcards. In the main city square there is a fountain
which is the biggest and most magnificent that I have ever encountered, despite
the profusion of beer bottles and other detritus floating in its bowl. Pigs.
The city contains a simply gigantic art gallery / museum which has a
huge collection of paintings from all over the world and through the ages,
carefully organised by country and date (meaning I could move through most of
the place at a reasonable clip and make a decent beeline for the Renaissance
stuff), as well as a stunning sculpture collection on the ground floor that had
me gaping at the skill involved, and a huge ancient Egyptian display which
included not only mummies and painted coffins but the most complete and
perfectly preserved tablets containing cuneiform I’ve ever seen, with English
translations. It also has a large and
very attractive city park, a plethora of modern shops and restaurants and many kilometres of cool but creepy underground tunnels. Click here to see my photos of Lyon.
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| One of my faves. So realistic! |
One of the main attractions for me was a museum that I
actually stumbled across on my way somewhere else.
I have certainly never seen its like before and doubt I will again. It was a museum of Cinema and Miniatures. It contained many props and sets from films,
as well as miniatures from films, and a massive collection of actual miniatures
just built for the love of the craft. It
might sound a little bit strange but I was utterly spellbound, particularly by
the miniatures. I wanted to shrink and walk around inside them! Cinema props in harsh
lighting and out of context always look fake and silly in my opinion, and this
was no exception although it was kind of cool to see actual masks etc that I
recognised from films. But those
miniatures! People must really do it for
love because the good ones look incredibly labour intensive, and I spent ages
being completely charmed by tiny little pairs of glasses, miniscule tubes of paint,
carefully drawn spines of hundreds of books in tiny bookshelves. When I’m in my seventies and living in my
crazy old lady house with fifty cats, I think I am going to take up miniatures.
(If I can still see them and my hands don’t shake). Click here to see the pics from the Museum of
Cinema and Miniatures.
I don’t know what I’ve been putting out in the universe
lately, but I’ve had two interesting experiences. One was when I was sitting quietly in a
garden in Geneva, halfway up to visiting yet another cathedral. It seemed like a relaxing place so I sat
there and meditated for a bit, and a woman about my age or a little younger
walked down the steps from the church, came up to me, pressed a coin into my
hand and said something in French (French is the main language in Geneva
although most of them speak Italian and German as well). I could tell she had been crying, and I asked
her in English “what is this for?” she looked at me and nodded towards the
church “Someone helped me,” she said “and he’s not here anymore.” So obviously she was trying to pay it
forward, which I thought was really sweet, and I have my lucky franc in a
special place in my wallet and when I get back I am going to get it made into a
necklace, because it is infused with all of her good intentions and feelings. The second thing that happened was not as
significant but no less unexpected. When I
was leaving my hotel in Lyon the staff took my key and then called me a taxi,
at which point I went outside to wait.
Just as he pulled up, the receptionist came running out looking for me,
and pressed an apple into my hand with a smile, before waving me off. Weird, and actually inconvenient because I
didn’t want an apple and I had to put all of my shit down and unzip my bag etc,
but I still thought it was very sweet.
Just a short one, and a late one, this time. I’m currently in Florence, Italy in an apartment for the next 17 nights, and I’m
deliriously happy about it. Getting here was a saga
and a half in itself, however it happened after Saturday night so it’s going to
have to wait until next week!
Til Next We Speak
*LOVE*
N
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