A Sunday excursion into the French countryside- how very European of me

Hello everyone,

So today I decided to my beautiful new bike for a spin. You know, let her stretch her legs a little.

I left my own charming village of Vernier & biked through several other charming villages, eventually making my way to France.

[Side note: for those of you not so familiar with the geography around here, Geneva is on a little prong of Swiss land that sticks right into into France. If you travel half an hour in any direction except east, you hit another country. For a Canadian, it feels very strange. ]

I spent the afternoon biking around the French countryside, down charming windy roads with fields of wine, corn and sunflowers on both sides, and up little sloping hills with bell-wearing cows beside me and the French alps just in front of me. It was a completely idyllic Sunday afternoon, like something out of a Van Gogh painting, or a car commercial : )








For lunch, I stopped in a town called Ferney-Voltaire, named after the philosopher Voltaire who lived the last part of his life there. I'd be able to give you some more fun fact tidbits about this if the Voltaire museum/ tourist attraction had been open. However, it was closed, just like everthing else in this part of the world on Sundays.

Anyway, the village of Ferney-Voltaire was also very charming, although I did get accosed by a slightly desperate looking man on the street who had just moved there from France and wanted someone- anyone- who spoke English to have a drink with. (Note to self: do not make friends with strangers. Even if they can't figure out how to use the ATM machines.)




People here, on the whole, are a very friendly bunch. They say "bonjour" to you when they meet you on the street, even if you're on your bicycle. They say "bonjour" to you when you sit down at the table next to them at a cafe. I find it very refreshing. Of course, this only applies to the little villages & not to downtown Geneva.

And now I'm off to a world music festival that's conveniently happening across the street from my apartment. So far, I give Switzerland a hearty two thumbs up!

Bisou,
Liz

P.S. I almost forgot the best thing of all: I saw a few houses like the one below in the midst of my travels. Way to rock out with the solar panels on the roof!