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Published: July 18th 2012
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Les Cascades du Harrison Today was a natural beauty day. We went into Juru National park in search of a waterfall. I was anticipating driving up to a waterfall, getting out of the car, snapping a few pics and being on our way to Lyon. That, probably obvious to most but myself, was not the case. Our drive took us into the foothills of the French Alps and as I understand the physics of waterfalls (water falls from a certain height), i was becoming aware that driving the car to the fall may not be what was in store. What was in store was 2 hours of hiking in +33 degree heat up a mountain. I complain, but it was stunning. There were a series of waterfalls going up the mountain and various ponds and streams. Syd and I enjoyed the water and the scenary. Once again our book has not let us down in terms of finding some of the greatest natural beauty on earth. Syd and I both agree that Etratat was much more stunning than today but we do come from Alberta where mountains and waterfalls are not far from home. If you are ever in France
I would recommend a visit to this site. It was a wonderful, natural experience. My fantastic lumberjack beard also fit in well in the thick wilderness. I also did almost slip of the mountain, but we will not be discussing that.
The drive from the national park to Lyon was very pretty. We were very close to the Switzerland border and I desperately wanted to drive into Geneva, but Sydney wont let me go there. Here is the story about that. Right now we have both been to the same amount of countries, however she has been to Switzerland and I have not. If we go to Switerland on this trip I will be one country ahead of her and she will not allow that to happen. So I guess not switzerland for me 😞 I might sneak out of the hotel at night and drive to Switzerland without her knowing, although she is my navigator and the only one who knows how to use the GPS, she is always one step ahead of me.
Lyon Lyon is the 3rd largest city in France with over 2 million people in the metro area. It is
a very large and sprawling city which is a bit intimidating to try and visit in one afternoon and evening. We spent the afternoon at a massive fine arts gallary that must have 100,000 pieces in its collections. There is a vast amount of sculptures, paintings, antiquities and coins from all over the world and all through the ages. We spent a good time enjoying the pieces for the first hour until we realized we had only completed about 1/4 of the museum. After that we went very quickly through the rest, because you can really only enjoy so much fine art at a time. My favourite were the paintings and collection of coins, some thousands of years old, from many different civilizations around the world. There was also a stunning Egyption collection of mummies, artifacts and hyroglyphs. It is worth a visit but we felt bad about whipping through the last half of the museum. Although we did rush teh end, we fell much more cultured than we did when we went in. Thats right we culture up now!!!
The city is a busy and beautiful city, infact the old city is a Unesco world heritage site, as
I think many of the old cities we have visited are. I do have to admit that the cities are starting to look a lot the same and Sydney agrees. Perhaps the heat made us a but apathetic today but we really were not that interested in sightseeing. However, we are going to rest up tonight and come back with extra vigor tomorrow.
Other highlights today include that I found razors and the weird beard will be no more tonight. Let us all mourn weird beard. We went to a nice pedestrian street that featured many many restaursants and choose one called Magnifique Burgers blah blah blah something. The pictures suggested they have the worlds biggest and best burgers. The burgers were 20 Euros or so each, so I really was expecting something sensational. What I got was a plain burger on a regular bun with cheese and onions. I would be disappointed with this burger if I got it from Boston Pizza, let alone here. I do not think the French have perfect the art of burgers yet, however they do so much else well so we wont hold it against them. They did have foie gras on
the menu, I should have ordered it, but it scares me. Sydney had the tomato and basil soup and Talapia. I find it so interesting and at times frustrating how late Europeans eat dinner. Restaurants dont even open until 7 at night and usually you are not eating until 8, however in France, breakfast and lunch is similar times to Canada, oh well.... when in France.....
I have noticed this fact in previous trips to Europe, but I am really noticing it now, Canadians are dirty hobos compared to Europeans. It is 33 degrees here and nobody is wearing shorts. Everyone is dressed up in fine clothing and we look like homeless people. I have become used to this over my tips here, but it is very pronounced in the larger French cities. Perhaps I will need to rent a tuxedo tomorrow to take a stroll through the city tomorrow.
To continue in our hobo ways we are to the point where we need to start washing our clothes, and without washing facilities we are hand washing the clothes and hanging them outside our hotel window. The French much be cringing at the dirty Canadians 😊 Whatever, it
is better than smelling like dirty Canadians.
Tomorrow, more natural wonders and getting closer to the French Riviera, if I felt like a hobo today, cant waint till later in the week. Someone fedex me something to wear....please 😉
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Evelyn
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Hey - where are the pictures?????