Content-Security-Policy: frame-ancestors 'self' X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN Steve Larsen: April 2007

2007-04-16

Another visit to France - Lyon

The train from Zurich to Lyon lasted about 5 hours. Along the way it passed through Luscerne, a town I've heard from a few people is a great place to visit. From the looks of it I wish I had a chance to stop there for a few days. The city is reminicient of Napa with all the vineyards on both sides of the train tracks, running up the mountain. Toss in a lake down at the bottom of the mountain and it becomes a great place to relax. An hour later there's about an hour stop in Geneva for a change of trains. I stopped by Claudes, my host from a month or so ago, just to drop a note in the mailbox to say a quick hello. He was out of town, nearing the end of a 2 week trip in China at the time so I had to try and find space in the mailbox to fit the note in. After arriving in Lyon I contacted Alain to meet up with him and eventually his girlfriend. The two of them were supposed to stop by for a visit in Mevege when I was there but with the poor weather they never made it.

Lyon is one of the few european cities with a great bicycle system that makes is almost free to get around the city. The only negative part of the systems is when you are returning late in the evening and have to find a station that has open spaces much further from your destination that you would like.

A great restaurant we dined at in Lyon as suggested by Alain
Food in lyon, Le Petit Frere. 13.5, 20 euros. Appertif, wine, starter, main, cheese, dessert.

2007-04-15

Return to Europe - Zurich

I'm going to try this time to keep a more frequent supply of information posted now that many people are getting the updates sent directly to their inboxes. Sign Up if you're not already.

After a long (5 week) visit back to the States I'm back in Europe. My original plan was to visit Mayrhofen, which is near Innsbruck in Austria. Plans changed however and I spent nearly a week in Zurich. The weather was fantastic, clear skies, temperatures above 20° every day.

Early in the week I spent most of the time around the lake relaxing. I walked down a good portion of the lake on the west side, past the Chinese Garden. I wandered through the city a bit as well of course.

On Wednesday there was a gathering of HC and CS members in the park. To every one's surprise, Tanja, my host from Monday evening, had arranged for a columnist from a local newspaper to show up and interview people for an article on Hospitality Club. I spent some time talking to the columnist, so much that she had reached her 3rd page of notes by the time we were done. This will probably be my European debut in the newspapers over here. I'm keeping in touch with a few people in Zurich to get a copy of the article when it's published.

Then on Friday, I ventured up to the top of the Uetliberg Mountain. The climb was only just shy of 470m but the route I took seemed to be the steepest way to go. The Sears Tower is 442m to the roof, and it seemed like climbing those stairs would have been just the same amount of effort.


To top it all off, here are the links to more photos from the previous weeks I've just added.

Surprise Return
White Sox Opener
Zurich