Holey Cheeses: The Lead-Up to Lyon

View from Pedy's terrace

Lyon. I arrived on Monday evening by train. I'm staying for nearly a week at my old friend Pedy's flat, who I knew years ago at uni in New Zealand. Yesterday I wandered around the city with one of the flatmates, Diego, who gave me a guided tour of the city. Being an architecture student he was able to tell me a lot about the development of the city.

[edit 16/03/2012: added Thursday]

Tuesday

Lyon

A painted building with famous local figures / This clock was built back when they thought the sun revolved the earth.

Lunch / coffee with Diego

The old Roman amphitheatre

Thursday

So children, today we will talk about the best country in the world. And play guitar of course.

Pedy. The fresh prince.

Pedy is a schoolteacher. On Thursday morning I was given a unique opportunity to teach English to two of Pedy's classes. It was awesome. You could almost see their curious little minds blowing - just like a room full of popcorn. Introductions. Q&A session. Singing an English song.

Down by the river

I spent the rest of the day cruising the streets of central Lyon. Did you know that Bellecour is the largest square in Europe? I sure didn't. The town has a nice relaxed groove to it. I found a stretch of chill-out-zone and played Plucky for a bit before meeting Pedy and Diego in the evening for beers and dinner.

Like the one in Zagreb, but with breasts.

Prelude
Um... how did I get here? At the end of my last post I left you all in suspense as I shockingly revealed that my next destination was in fact Vienna. Well... a girl was meeting me there. C'est la Vie. :) I've spent the time since mid January flitting back and forth between Fulenbach, Zürich and Zagreb seeing my girl, catching up with old friends and spending time with family in Fulenbach. What follows is a picture diary in more-or-less chronological order of the intervening time.

I took this picture from my window seat as I flew from Thailand to Vienna. It looks cold down there. And it was. I arrived with no warm clothes. I was given a hoody by Manuel (with whom we couchsurfed) and bought some jeans in Zagreb. It wasn't till I got back to Fulenbach that I was reunited with my winter wardrobe.

This was take from a Notwist concert in Arena (a squat) in Vienna. We didn't even know it was happening and were let in at half time for free. Sweeet.

That's us, Zürich / Back to my attic room, Fulenbach.

Making necessary repairs to Plucky. It's good to have access to a joinery. I glued up five cracks, cleaned, sanded and oiled it, and changed the strings. Ready for the next adventure.