autumn leaves and more traveling

Another birthday came and passed. It was pretty quiet, just what I wanted. The best part of this birthday is getting to celebrate it in France and having my best friend here with me. I had a great time showing her around despite the constant rain. (Then again, Lyon is beautiful under the rain.) Luckily, Tuesday cleared up for us and we were able to take a quick day trip to Annecy.

It's been busy and even though I have decided not to take any classes this time, I find that I am still pressed for time; fitting in my running sessions, errands and trying to balance a social life. Soon, things will be a little more relaxed and I'm looking forward to spending the Christmas holidays in Lyon. I have been studying Russian by myself so it's ok for now. Eventually at some point, I will definitely get back to Russian class, and who knows, maybe spend one month or so in Russia. Nothing beats immersion.

But October is coming to an end, the end of the year slowly approaches. This, for me, is the best time of year. The weather is finally cooling down and I love walking in the crisp, fresh, and sharp air. Occasionally, I'll smell firewood burning while biking or walking along the rivers. The leaves are changing color and some memories of the New England autumn colors comes with it. No Halloween celebration here other than the occasional pumpkin decoration on windows of certain shops.

So what was I up to this weekend? *See below:

YES: Salon de Vins. 

My friend and I spent a couple of hours hanging around trying the wine. I ended up getting a small bottle of wine called Soleil d'Hiver. Even the name sounds romantic. Obviously I tried it and it was awesome.

Holy crap that's a large pumpkin and weirdly shaped

Reindeer on my run in the park. Look at those leaves!

Soon, I will make my way to Brussels for a weekend getaway. I have a trip to Aix planned as well as well as a trip to Strasbourg for its famous Christmas markets. I haven't been to Brussels in almost four years so now is the perfect time to go.  Because, who doesn't want to eat chocolate, Belgian fries, Belgian waffles and see some awesome Belgian comic books?

Looking forward to the rest of Autumn and winter adventures. Oh yeah, I'll be cat sitting in December as well, which should be fun!

Bonne semaine!

a week and weekend of heatwave

Is it really the weekend already? I don't even know what happened in the past week that made me feel like time is just slipping away from me.

Oh wait. I know.

I am currently waist deep in transparency and verification of nuclear weapons states. Forget about sleep, reporting forms are just too important! Confidence and trust are being built, people. It's work in all its disarmament glory (as much glory as it can get).

And then there's the constant moving. Being in and out of Geneva, Lyon and Annecy and attempting to have a social life in Lyon, it's tiring, I gotta say. My French mom has been nagging me to get out and meet people. The problem is that at work, I already see a lot of people so when I'm home, all I want is to be able to work (and drink coffee) in peace. But after all the nudging and pushing, I finally dragged myself to a soirée Thursday night. Needless to say, it was probably what I just needed. It was a short walk from my house to the café and I have rediscovered how cheap a glass of wine is in France compared to Geneva. Just 2 euros! Wine always make for interesting conversations. In the heat of a summer night, deep in the heart of the Lyonnais old town, anything is interesting. I also opted for a glass of white wine because I needed something that would cool me down in this ridiculous heat wave.

Honestly, I wouldn't have minded the heat if French people believed in AIR CONDITIONING. How ridiculous is the heat wave right now? Even the French are complaining about it, that's how bad it is. I have zero motivation to go outside and I'm currently more tanned than I have ever been since college. So I'm hiding in the shelter of my house, working away and drinking a ton of cold water. I also have no motivation to eat due to the heat, so I've been bingeing on coffee and water.

I blame the heat for my inability to sleep at night and therefore feeding my caffeine addiction.

Some pictures from Annecy (finally, I was there on a sunny day!)

lots of tourists, but beautiful town, nonetheless

Despite the heat, there's been wind. At least it's not sweltering wind. On the other hand, had it not been for this hot weather, I would have never discovered the wonderful taste of a Diabolo Fraise. Super refreshing drink that I totally needed to survive this heat.

Next stop, Clérey. My lovely French folks have a countryside house there. I need to take advantage of that.  Of course, I won't stop working because I can't take a vacation, but at least I won't have to trek back and forth next week.

I still can't believe how lucky I am.

Have a beautiful weekend!

a long weekend break in photos

First 4 day weekend since high school! Who'd ever thought those ever existed again?

I spent 2 out of the 4 days wandering in France.

Chambéry:

 

 

 

 

Cute little town with an extensive old town and just an hour ride from Geneva. Although I couldn't get home until 2 hours later because the return ticket I bought transferred at Culoz.....and there was a strike. What do you know. I shouldn't even be surprised anymore. Luckily, the SNCF people changed my ticket and I managed to get home.

Annecy:

The bus ride (31 CHF roundtrip) was shorter than I expected. Most of us were still sleeping on the bus until 40 mins later, the bus driver yelled out "terminus!" Totally disoriented upon getting off the bus.

Annecy is as beautiful as always. Next time I go, it better be sunny so I can enjoy a full day under the Annecy sun.

It's been raining off and on in Geneva for the last few months (ever since the snow stopped). I'm in dire need of the sun, which is why I'm fleeing to Slovenia and Croatia this weekend.

For now, the Open-ended working group needs some major concentration. As the P5 won't be attending, I've been asked jokingly to represent one of them. That could be interesting if I actually did it.

Here's to another 2 weeks of conference and the trip to Slovenia!

annecy rendez-vous

Meetings, meetings, and more meetings.

2 days, 12 hours of meetings, and 9 cups of coffee later, the Annecy meeting came to an end. Of course, I didn't have much time to explore the city. I've been to Annecy before and it's a beautiful little French town by the lake against the setback of mountains. I managed, however to go out to eat on Thursday evening as well as get up super early Friday morning (6am) and go for an hour tour in old town. The market was just setting up as I strolled along the cobblestone streets. I got a pain au chocolat and two other smaller pastries for 2,50€ and some awesome coffee. I miss my French pastries so the stroll in the morning along the morning to get breakfast was highly appreciated. I managed to get back just in time to start the meeting.

The Annecy meetings provided a good beginning to the 2013 NPT Prepcom. I think I enjoyed particularly the humor of some delegations. One even made a reference to Lord Voldemort! But the most important message that's driven home is to do no harm to the treaty. Among other interesting discussion was about the IAEA safeguards. Of course, the DPRK nuclear test and the controversial Iran's nuclear program were also discussed.

Also, the food was good. I splurged on Thursday evening and went to dinner with someone from UNIDIR.

Voici my dinner: at Café Saint Antoine

our aperitif: Kir Savoyard (aka deliciousness)

Suprême de poulet à la crème et aux cèpes et ses ravioles aux champignons 

Tiramisu :))

I didn't take a picture of the entree, which was Velouté de de potiron aux châtaignes (pumpkin soup with chestnuts). Overall, I spent 50 euros. Not ridiculously bad.

I actually woke up before the sun on Friday morning

The view from my window, my glorious, ridiculously expensive hotel window: L'imperial Palace

And some old familiar sites

So glad to back in Annecy, but I'll be back again.

So, it's Austria this coming week Thursday! Apparently, it's supposed to snow, but with 15C temperature, I refuse to believe that. Speaking of this, I still need to book my tickets and hostel. To the Sound of Music tour I go! I can't wait to sing all those songs. And Mozart! And Mozart chocolate! Too many exciting things to come. Not to mention the good food I'll be gorging on. Thank goodness for UN holidays this week.

I miss Lyon. But I'm going back the 6th of April! In a way, it is le chaleur of my friend that draws me back to Lyon time and time again. It is l'amour de la vie in Lyon that keeps me hoping and dreaming. And this means more to me than anything else. How I went through almost 2 years of being away from Lyon, I don't know. I can't wait to see my friend and her kids again.

annecy, france - journeying through the venice of france

My first travel repost from my European adventures

The first French town I visited after Lyon. After arriving in Lyon and settling in nicely, I was eager to get my travels started. Having heard about Annecy and its charms, I was all for visiting this town. Unfortunately, the day I and another student went, it was raining. I suppose though, that it just made the town more beautiful. Nestled in the Northen French Alps, this town is known as the Venice of the Rhone-Alpes. A well-deserved name, as many canals runs through this small town into the Lac Annecy. The lake, as you can see above would normally be very blue and clear, but because of the rain, it wasn't quite as clear. Also, the moutains behind the lake are the Alps, and because it was raining, there was so much fog. Beautiful.

We left in the morning taking the SNCF, which took about an hour and half. It was raining on and off, but nothing too bad, which was a relief to me. After finding a map of the place, we began to wander around the charming town and just taking in all the sights, smells and sounds. We also got to see a small antique market.

Along the canals

Sur le Pont Des Amours (The bridge of lovers)

Lac Annecy and the Alps

This is known as Palais d'Isle. It is a former palace turned prison. 

There was really big castle, known as the Annecy Castle on the top of a hill so we thought we'd walk up there and check it out. The walk up the hill was an epic walk, although less epic than the walk up to Fourviere in Lyon or the Notre Dame in Marseille.  It is said that no one knows when this castle originally was built, but the estimate is around the 12th century. Of course, now it's a museum. Going to check out the tickets, I was pleased to find that they weren't expensive. I believe the price for students is 2,50 euros.

Annecy Castle

The view from Annecy Castle up top.

For some odd reason there was a huge piano in one of the rooms in the castle. I wasn't sure why but it was A STEINWAY PIANO. If there were no security cameras around, I'd open it and seriously bang out some Chopin or something.

For lunch, we just had a sandwich, since that was probably the cheapest option we had. I think the combo meal is probably the cheapest. You can get a sandwhich, a desert (which I almost always get the flan nature)  and a drink for 6-8 euros. Awesome deal.

More canals

Beautiful town, with beautiful sceneries. If you're looking to get out of Annecy, Geneva is just a little more than half an hour away. Lyon is about an hour away by car, or an hour an half by train. Chamonix is not too far either, though I've never been there. I hear it is also a charming place. I'm all for charming places and as you can probably tell, I'm easily seduced by these lovely small towns.

If there's any way to get back to France, Sign. Me. Up.