France Trip - Day Three: Lyon.
Posted on April 21, 2010 at 12:49 pm.
Tuesday was the third day of my travels and the second day in Lyon. After having breakfast at a crousanterie, we decided to go see the "hill that prays". It is one of the two original setteled hills of Lyon, along with the "hill that works" which I wrote about yesterday. It houses a cathedral of St. Mary and some ancient Roman ruins. In order to get to the top of the hill we had to take a modified subway cart that was still rolling on rails, but was being pulled up by metalic lines instead of a train. This is because the incline is too steep for any train to make it.
Once we got to the top, we went straight into the cathedral. I must say that it is the single most beautiful cathedral I have ever been to. Not the largest, but definitely the most intricate and overall magnificent. It was build to thank St. Mary for protecting the city from the Black Death. Of course a complete and total quarantine might have helped. Nobody was allowed to enter or leave the city for an extended period of time, but as is often the case - all the credit went to those who prayed as opposed to those who worked on a solution.
After having marveled at the gorgeous church, we went down to look at the Roman amphitheatre. As with anything Roman it was well done and well placed. Even today there are concerts taking place there, and even though most of it is in ruins, it still seats about 1500 people. I am a big fan of anything Roman, so it pleased me greatly to have visited there.
At some point during the day we encountered an old, artistic looking man in a trenchcoat and a berete. He was riding his scooter and screaming something in French aggrily. At one point he expressed his displeasure at whatever was troubling him by spitting on the ground in a most severe and defiant manner.
We took a train to Givors, which is a "ghetto" suburb of Lyon. It is most famous for the fact that my sister lives there. According to some, going there automatically implies consent to being raped, robbed, and murdered. I found it to be equal parts pretty and dirty, somewhat poor, and not at all dangerous. A lot of Arabs live there, but the overwhelming majority of them are good, hard-working people. My sister feels safe walking there at night, and it's funny how the denizens of this place think they are living in a ghetto. There is even a hip-hop band that claims to know "real life" because they grew up in that "hood." Not that I'm an expert, but it seems to me that even the most thuggish of Givors' inhibitants would not make it for 10 minutes in the ghettos of LA, New York, and Chicago.
It was getting late so I went back home to Lyon. On the train I met a young Arabic man, who asked me something about my camera (Canon EOS 30D). Once he realized that I didn't speak French, he remembered what English words he knew and we had a conversation. Because those words were few, we communicated via thumbs up or thumbs down mostly.
First he pointed at my camera and wanted to know if I was a journalist. I said yes. (It is true, I am a journalist, I write for a gaming web site.) He asked "England" and I said "America". Then he said "Francia" and got a thumbs up from me. Then he said "Barack Obama", got a thumbs down and was surprised. He proceeded to share his opinion on Obama (up), Clinton (up), and Bush (down). Sarcozy was down too, since he apparently made "Francia" a police state. Police is thumbs down, because it uses fists on "Arabians and niggers" - direct quote. Remembering my experience from yesterday I am not so sure that more police is a bad idea.
He then asked what I think of French women, to which I waved my hand, refusing to give either thumbs up or down, which cheered him up immensely. Then he asked if I have a gun, and after I said yes, he seemed to be very impressed with me. At that point he informed me that he likes 2Pac and rap in general. The reason he hates Bush is besause Bush helps Israel shoot Palestinians. Israel got a definite thumbs down and so did the Jews. After that he thought for a moment and changed his answer. Jews are neutral, but Zionists rated two thumbs down and an evil grimace. This has led me to conclude that the Zionists are worse than Bush.
My new aquaintance has never been outside of France, but felt that he was an Algerian. He was also kind enough to let me take his picture, and once the train ride was over he shook my hand and was off. During my conversation with him, a nearby Frenchman was giving me disaproving glances. After I exited the train he approached me and said in a heavy nasal accent, "hide your camera here". He was worried that I would be robbed. I thanked him for his concern and went to my hotel, which took about 30 minutes on foot.
My second full day on Lyon was at an end.
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France Trip - Day Two: Lyon.
Posted on April 20, 2010 at 4:24 pm.
Today was my first full day in Lyon. After finally getting to my hotel at 7:30 in the morning, I took a shower, changed, and went exploring the nearby streets. I didn't want to get lost so I didn't wander too far off.
My first impressions were favorable. The buildings were pretty and there were a lot of little (and big) cafes and restaurants. I also chanced upon a Virgin Superstore, where I found an adapter so that I could plug my laptop into the European power socket. I also looked for new headphones, to replace the ones that were stolen from me, but the prices were absolutely ridiculous. Something that in America would cost 5 to 7 dollars, was 10 to 20 euros.
(Later I discovered that this holds true for most other prices as well. I'll use McDonalds for comparison. A BigMac meal is 6 euros, which is something like 8 or 9 dollars. Clearly a rip off.)
My sister showed up at about 11, and took me to see the worthwhile places of Lyon. We walked through many interesting quarters, up and down tiny medieval streets, magnificent squares, crossed both rivers a number of times using different bridges and ate at an authentic restaurant. They served us some famous Lyon meal, which was pretty nasty and unhealthy on top of that. Still it was worth a shot, even though my sister swears that everyone she knows (including herself) can make a better one.
We then went up the "hill that works" which used to be a center of French (and altogether European) silk-making. There was quite a steep climb, but the view was pretty breathtaking. Once there, we went into some bar and I got a humongous bottle of cider, which I was happy to discover I could walk the streets with. In this sense Europe has an edge over America, as some of our idiotic rules don't apply there. Of course they have other idiotic rules that don't apply back home.
Once we came down the hill, we decided to see a modern part of Lyon. Taking the subway was quite simple, but once there I wasn't terribly impressed. We stopped at a McDonalds for some water and to use the bathroom (you have to be a paying customer to be allowed in there) and witnessed a beating.
A bunch of thuggish Arabic youths (whom Lyon is choke-full of) were beating a hipster-looking white guy. Not sure what the reason was, but they got him with his back to the McDonalds' door, and kept trying to pummel and kick him. Some of them, however, were trying to hold the others back. As soon as I saw it I told my sister to call the police.
She didn't know the number (!!!) and so she asked some equally thuggish looking Arabic girls who standing next to us. Instead of telling her the number, they suggested we don't "abuse the police." By then a fat woman in a hijab came to the guy's defense, and was shielding him from the attackers and loudly shaming them. They were arguing with her, but it looked like they weren't going to strike him anymore. The crowd around them grew and then broke up into many smaller groups, into which all of them (the attackers, the victim, and the defenders) have disappeared.
About five minutes later, two cops wearing civilian attire showed up. Apparently someone did call the police. They questioned some McDonalds' employees, but didn't seem to gather any useful intel. We left at that point and ended up following those girls who were against inconveniencing the police with such petty matters. They were cheerfully discussing, and playfully reenacting the event. Nice.
We took the subway back. By that time it was getting dark, so we walked around a bit more and saw some beautifully lit up buildings. Lyon looks absolutely amazing at night. All the French stores and restaurants close at about 7 PM or so. Only the bars and clubs remain open, which is messed up but oh well. Fortunately most Arabic-owned places remain open, so we had dinner at a very nice kabob place. Their food was great, and the only shortcoming was that there was no pork on the menu.
At that point I was tired, so I went back to my hotel and my sister went home.
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France Trip - Day One: Spain.
Posted on April 19, 2010 at 4:45 pm.
The plan was simple. The plan is always very simple initially:
a) Fly out to Lyon via Madrid
b) Meet sister
c) Stay in Lyon for 3 days
d) Visit Paris for 2 days
e) Visit Strasbourg for 1 day
f) Return to Chicago via London
All the proper plane and train tickets were purchased, and all the hotel reservations made. Then the stupid volcano blew up in Iceland. The flight to Madrid was still on time, however, and even though they made me check in a bag I could have easily taken on board, I didn't think much of it. That is until I realized that my awesome Able Planet NC300 headphones were in the bag and for the duration of the flight I would have to use the crummy phones that Iberia hands out. Oh well.
I flew out of Chicago and arrived in Madrid only to find out that my flight to Lyon was cancelled due to the volcanic ash scare. It was highly stupid, since the sky in Lyon is absolutely clear.
After getting off the plane, I stood in line for 30 minutes at Iberia's counter just to get told to go pick up my luggage and then seek further information. Since my bag didn't arrive at the proper carousel I had to stand in another line, this time 45 minutes, at another Iberia counter. Finally they told me that my bag will be sent to some other carousel and that I should go wait there.
Sure enough in about 10 minutes my bag appeared. I opened it to get my headphones out, but discovered that someone already beat me to them. The bag was opened, and a bunch of things were missing, including some of the gifts I was bringing for my sister. I didn't feel like standing in line for another 45 minutes just to file a claim, so I decided to first go and see about actually getting to Lyon. There was a rumor going around that Iberia was putting people on buses to Paris and I wanted to find out for certain what my options were.
The line to yet another Iberia counter was truly frightening. I figured it would take me two hours to get through it. I was wrong. It took me five hours. It was one of the longest lines I ever stood in, and I was born in the Soviet Union. People kept jumping it until we got a little posse going to ward off intruders, airport workers kept bringing cripples in wheel chairs to be served ahead of everyone, and there were only two reps per line, who took their sweet time with each person.
(Some may say that I am spoiled by American customer service, which is the best in the world, but that is not much of a consolation for me.)
Just before it was my turn, one woman (who actually jumped the line earlier) fell into tears over the answer the reps gave her, and two other customers got into very ugly shouting matches with Iberia employees. One of them was a black woman with a Dominican Republic passport, who had to be taken away by security because she was thoroughly out of control. The other was a white man, whose passport I didn't see, and he was going nuts as well, banging his fist on the counter and yelling as loud as he could at the girl behind it. He ran off in frustration then.
When I finally stood before the pretty Spanish girl, she was on the edge of a breakdown herself. I smiled at her and told her that I wasn't going to yell at her no matter what. Then I asked for if she could fly me to Lyon? She said no. I asked for a bus. No buses anymore. A train? All trains are full. What about Geneva? No, nothing. Strasbourg? No. Any chance I can get a hotel then? No, no hotels. Well, what can I do? She didn't know, and kept repeating that she had no information. All the while she looked as though she was one step away from losing it.
(Customer service is one of the shittiest jobs ever, and she obviously wasn't trained well enough if she allowed it to get to her.)
Finally my friendly attitude, charm, and good looks (and luck) did the trick and she calmed down enough to half-jokingly ask me if I wanted to fly to Rome. I said that I would absolutely love to go to Rome with her, but not at this exact moment. This was the beginning of a beautiful friendship that (sadly) didn't last long, but was still most beneficial to me. At that point she actually wanted to help me. After making some calls, she found out that three other people were taking a car to Lyon, and asked if I wanted to come with them. Of course I wanted.
The girl told me to wait by the window, and said that she'd get back to me in fifteen minutes. It got my hopes up, but I was still afraid that I will be stuck in that bloody airport for days, like all these other poor bastards. Ten minutes later she asked me how many bags I had, and told me to wait some more. In another ten minutes she told me where to go to hook up with these people.
I passionately told her that I loved her forever, and was on my way. Less than an hour later I rode out of Madrid in a white Mercedes taxi. It was 4:00 PM and I have been in Madrid airport for seven hours.
My new friends were a white couple and a black man from Lyon, all of them roughly my age. The couple spoke French and a bit of English, and the man spoke French and Spanish, while our driver spoke Spanish and a bit of French.
Our route was through Barcelona and Montpelier, which equals about 770 miles. We stopped a few times to get food, but other than that didn't delay any. The driver kept the speed of 93 mph in Spain, and 80 in France. Maybe the French cops are less forgiving, I don't know.
As we were going through Spain, I got to see a fair share of the countryside, some castles and old churches, some beautiful vistas, some wind turbines, and a lot of tiny stone houses that dotted the fields. The Spaniards seem to believe these dwellings, each little more than a box, are very important, since I've seen then all over the country and in vast numbers. Some new, some looking as if they remembered not just Napoleon, but also the Moors.
The roads in France and Spain are just like American highways, and if you've seen the latter nothing about the former will possibly surprise you. It may be worth noting that the roadside food is equally crummy and expensive, and roadside souvenirs are equally unimpressive.
By the time we got to Lyon it was around 3:30 AM. The driver didn't want to drive around the city dropping all of us off, so the couple offered to have me dropped off at their house and then they would drive me to the hotel in their own car. This was very nice of them and I accepted. Once I got to the hotel, however, it was closed. A freaky European custom I didn't quite expect.
Luckily for me, my new friends offered me to stay with them until morning. Needless to say I was in no position to decline even if I wanted to. Three hours later it was time for work, so I thanked them and started on the way to my hotel, since I now knew where it was located.
To put a finishing touch on my crazy adventure, I took the wrong bridge across the river, and instead of walking over a pretty pedestrian bridge, lugged around a rail-road one, which was not even meant for foot traffic. The people on the train station across the river were most surprised to see me marching towards them. Once on solid ground I made an expeditious retreat before trouble could find me.
I got to my hotel and took a shower without any further incident.
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Book - Red on Red.
Posted on April 15, 2010 at 10:56 am.
I just finished reading Red on Red by Vera Kamsha.
To my surprise it was a pretty good book. Red on Red is the first in the Reflections of Etherna cycle. A while ago I tried another cycle by the same author, the Chronicles of Arcia, and it was disastrous.
I imagine it could be explained by the fact that "Arcia" was her first published work, while "Etherna" was written after much practice.
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Book - Great Tales from English History.
Posted on April 14, 2010 at 10:05 pm.
I finished reading Great Tales from English History by Robert Lacey. It is an excellent selection of some of the most important episodes from English (not British) history from the prehistoric times to late fourteenth century. Unlike a lot of other books, this one is written in a way that makes it pleasant and easy to read.
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Photoshoot.
Posted on April 12, 2010 at 12:16 am.
You know what I did on Saturday?
I went to Chicago with two professional photographers and two models.
We started off at a south-side location with a lot of graffiti, a pile of old tires, and a broken derelict of a truck. Then we went to another graffiti-covered location, somewhere in the vicinity of Western and Armitage, where the second model joined us.
The photographers were awesome! I myself own just enough camera equipment to embarrass myself, but it is always a pleasure to observe a professional at work. I even think I may have picked up a trick or two inadvertently.
Being photographed felt weird. I've never been on the posing end of a real photoshoot before and turns out it's a lot of fun. Well, to be honest I've never been on the shooting end of a real photoshoot either, but at least I pretended. =)
It was very cool to see how the passers-by react. Some stared, some pretended to ignore us, some smiled, some frowned, some stopped and observed, some hurried past as not to disturb us.
Meeting the models was an experience in and of itself. Unlike me they knew what to do, and worked with the photographers, while I seemed to have worked against them. It's no wonder they come out good in their pictures, something I can't say about myself.
Well, actually this may also have something to do with the fact that I look like me, and they look very pretty.
All things considered, I really, really, really enjoyed my Saturday. =)
Update:
I think I should include the links to the photographer's sites. If you are out looking for great professionals I have nothing but praise for these two: www.siberiaphotography.com and www.jodiefisher.com
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Lead and Gold preview published.
Posted on April 7, 2010 at 10:28 am.
My preview of Lead and Gold was published by The Adrenaline Vault last night. It's a team-based shooter game (kind of like Team Fortress 2) that's set in the Wild West. Go read the full review over at Avault.
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Barack the Bastard kills our nukes.
Posted on April 6, 2010 at 12:00 am.
So... how do you like the news today?
For the first time, the United States is explicitly committing not to use nuclear weapons against nonnuclear states that are in compliance with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, even if they attacked the United States with biological or chemical weapons or launched a crippling cyberattack.
To set an example, the new strategy renounces the development of any new nuclear weapons, overruling the initial position of his own defense secretary.
Source: here.
You know what... up until this, I was sort of, kind of understanding. Sure, I disagreed with his politics, sure I was against redistribution of wealth, sure a lot of things annoyed me. However, regardless of all that, I was willing to at least not demonize him, like some ultra-right crazies did.
I was furious when the fighter-jet programs got canceled, but even then I was still willing to see where he was going with it...
Now I have seen it.
Turns out the crazies were right.
In 2012 I will vote for anyone, for any lying Republican hypocrite, for any religious fanatic, for fucking Sarah Palin, for any creeping pond scum, for absolutely ANYONE on this bloody planet who is not Barack the Bastard.
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Movie - Zombieland.
Posted on April 4, 2010 at 11:13 am.
Last night I rented a Blu-Ray version of Zombieland and watched it with a couple of friends. It was a pretty nice movie, with above average dialog and acting. Also, it neither took itself too seriously, nor was it cheesy, which was a welcome change from most other zombie movies. I'd say it was easily as good as Shawn of the Dead, maybe better in some aspects.
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Bachelor's party.
Posted on March 29, 2010 at 5:06 pm.
My dear friend Arthur is getting married, and on Saturday he had an awesome bachelor's party. I won't go into detail... but we started off with some shooting and things progressed from there.
I had an awesome time, and so did everyone else. Woot!
That's me in the top picture by the way.
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