WHEW. A million and one things happened since I last posted, some of it great, some of it horrible.
THE BAD:
In world news, Britain’s economy is in a freefall as the consequences of Brexit finally catch up. The poorest class of people in Britain are now worse off than the poorest people in Eastern European countries like Belarus and Estonia, which if you don’t know, is super duper not good. The sun truly is setting on the British Empire. The death total in Turkey and Syria combined surpassed 23,000 this morning. I live in the immigrant neighborhood of Lyon, and many of my neighbors and the local businesses are Turkish. Things are morose. There is no good news coming from that border.
THE GOOD:
My parents came to visit! It is currently my winter break (two weeks long) and my parents were here for the first week. I showed them around Lyon and took them to a bunch of restaurants that were too expensive for my to go to on my own. We celebrated my birthday (I’m 24 now) at a Michelin-starred restaurant, and let me tell ya, that place earned the star.
THE BAD AGAIN:
My dad wanted to visit a special church in Geneva, Switzerland, where John Calvin worked to develop early Protestantism. Geneva being only two hours by train, I got us tickets for a day trip. However, as soon as we stepped on the train in Geneva, the national French rail system called a nationwide strike to oppose Macron’s retirement reform. No trains were moving in the entire country, and certainly none were leaving or entering. We were suddenly stranded in a foreign country with no way back, no passports, and nowhere to rest our heads.
It was already stressful enough for my parents since nothing was familiar. I was having a bad time of it, but I know that it was so much easier on me because I could read the signs and talk to the people. Like, imagine you get stranded at the Denver International Airport. That sucks, and it’s super far from home, but you can order food and talk to desk managers and figure it out. All of those little assurances go away when you don’t know the language or culture.
BACK TO THE GOOD:
We figured out a hotel after plenty of back and forth on the phone with various places, and did end up finding the Calvin church. It was really cool! Calvin’s desk chair was there. We also sorted out transport back to Lyon: a car. The rail strike was showing no signs of stopping, so this was all we could do. It ended up being great because we drove straight through the Alps, and let me tell you, those views are nuts.
I took the ‘rents all over the touristy part of Lyon, but I also brought them to the mall and the grocery store. I think my dad’s favorite place was Les Halles de Paul Bocuse, which is kinda like a food court, if a food court only prepared and offered extremely high quality one-of-a-kind meats, cheeses, wines, and desserts.
Just got word that my parents are safely back in Tennessee. While it was great to have them here, I’m relieved that they made it back to the States, what with the insanity that is travel right now.
Bises,
Allison
P.S.: Turkey and Syria do not have enough resources either stocked nationally or donated internationally to deal with the crisis. If you were thinking of donating to my blog this month, put that cash toward the earthquake victims. You can help by donating to these reputable orgs:
Flan in France 