Weekends close to home

A view of the Jet d'Eau on a picture-perfect day in Geneva
(our flat is on the left, just on the other side of the bridge)

Today we were supposed to go to Lyon, France to check out the old town and sample the wonderful food the town has to offer (supposedly it's the culinary capital of France). We've been to Lyon before, but just to go shopping at the mega mall the Saturday before Christmas (it was a mob scene). Unfortunately today G is feeling a bit under the weather and I had to study my French, so we decided to stay home and take it easy.

Yesterday was beautiful and we stayed in Geneva to take advantage of the big sales (in January & July, the whole country goes on Soldes) and we also climbed to the top of St. Pierre Cathedral in the old town. It has great views of the lake and it was the perfect place to finish up my photography class homework (we had an assignment to take three unique pictures of the same landscape). Last night we attended a 50th birthday party for one of the wives at G's office. We knew quite a few people there and met a lot of new people too. It was a fun night.

Last weekend we took a day trip to Zürich, Switzerland's largest city, and in 2006 was voted the city with the best quality of life in the world. I've been to Zürich three times, but only to the airport, so it was high time we saw the town. It's a beautiful place, right on the shores of Lake Zürich, with the Limmat River flowing by, rich with history and full of great sights.

We also got a little dose of Swiss German culture. We hit some of the big department stores to take advantage of those January sales and on every floor there were sales people shouting at the customers through a megaphone! Now these folks were not on a podium or behind the counter far away from us, but instead they were literally a few feet from our ears, shouting about the hot item of the minute. I have never seen anything like it. We didn't stay long. The deals were good, but my ears just couldn't take it.

It has been nice staying close to home these last couple of weekends. I know Scout appreciates us being around. Tomorrow I'm back to my French class. This week I'm also hosting my very first book club meeting, which entails cooking a full dinner for about eight people. I'm somewhat terrified, but I think I can pull it off. Wish me luck!