Sunny Sing Along Song!

We've had a couple of weeks of amazing weather here in Lyon which have made people get out in the sun in not too covering clothes resulting in red lobsters whining their way through in town. So words started flowing in my head during my shower. I think you'll recognize yourself. Let Gloria Gaynor give you the melody and just sing along!

So, melody is Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive, go on and in-joy your voice! Free distribution!

Verse 1
First I was afraid
I was all damn white
kept thinking I could never show
my face in the night
but then I spent those sunny days
lying half naked in a park
and I got dark
I got back the outgoing spark
later I got burnt
my world went grey
I thought there's no need for lotion here
I can't afford those creams anyway
I should have listened to my mom
I should have been responsible
If I had known for those six hours
the sun would make me unrecognizable

Chorus
Go on now walk, to the ER
just take good care now
'cause it feels a bit bizarre
isn't tanned today the way to go to get you some might
you see I'm peeling
you see I can't sleep at night
Oh no, not you
you just yell "buhuu"
as long as ignorance exists
I know people will get burnt
you've got all your rays to give
people get melanoma and cease to live
but you'll survive
you will survive!



Verse 2
It took all the medical help
for me not to fall apart
kept buying after-sun lotions
just to make myself feel smart
and I spent so many nights
just feeling sorry for myself
I used to cry
Now I wear a t-shirt from U & I
So now I am great
The red turned brown
I'm not scared of you mighty sun
Which means I'm going to kick you down
I have money on sun lotions
this time I'll be prepared for real
now I can tell the world my emotions
without you getting me to peel

Chorus x2

Weekend in Annecy

Last week Tijana asked me if I want to hang along to Annecy with Remo, Emily and Lewis so the little kid Fred got all excited once more during his 23 years of living "There's a lake! We can swim!" and he said "I'm IN!"

So the day finally sailed to the port last Saturday. What everyday-car was chosen for this little holiday trip then? According to Remo, the boring car, an Audi A4 3.2 liter V6 cabriolet (convertible). Definitely my thoughts too; the boring car. With a nice cruising speed of 'whatever' we got to Annecy in a flash, threw our bags in the hotel and went for a swim ...or a dip ..or a get-in-and-fly-out. It's epic to swim with snowy mountains in the background. And yes it was COLD and don't come whining that "you shouldn't care, you're Finnish". I did notice! You all know how you show to others the temperature with your thumb and index finger resembling ..well you know. In this case there's no space between those fingers. It sure was refreshing though.

Later on we had a hunt for THE restaurant and after settling down in one of the places with actual space I had a tartar steak. Yes, raw minced meat. Although it was good, you didn't really understand whether you were hungry later or not. Luckily the old part of Annecy is driven by ice cream factories. Which means after a full stomach of ice cream we went to bed quite early, had a good night sleep and took the car around the lake with the roof down the next day. This word came already once during this entry and it's coming again right here: EPIC! Driving with a convertible makes you hungry, for more sure, but I mean Food Hungry. So we had a bite at a local restaurant, and all of a sudden the master chef Marc Veyrat came and said "Bonjour!" For you who doesn't know, he's the first chef to have achieved full points (20/20) of the Gault-Millau guide (for both of his restaurants) and has achieved twice three Michelin stars. Impressive!

An Awesome Team on an Awesome Weekend in an Awesome Place. Can it get more Awesome? Emily, Tijana and Remo kept saying the place looks like Switzerland. So probably it will get more awesome, let's just head to Lugano! Dreams aside, we had to take the train back because Remo had to head back with the car to his office in Switzerland. Later on we had a  d e l i c i o u s  dinner, but that's another story! In-joy les photos!

Le Grand Parc

We are human beings. Most human beings prefer comfort and peace and if there's a trip to do most human beings choose a comfortable way to move around. Number one would be a car or a vehicle with an engine that you have full control over. Next ones are a bus or train or similar. Then comes the bikes that most people like to utilize in shorter trips. My solution, which isn't even a possibility in the eyes of the majority (simply because most people don't understand what it is) is a fixed gear bike! After something between 55 and 60 kilometers today on my beloved, simple and condition maintaining machine I partly understand the way of thinking of the majority. Partly. In the center of Lyon you overtake everybody with a bike and a competitive mind, so I'm going to prefer this racer of mine.

So how can you take on nearly 60km in one session? Easy! Go to Le Grand Parc with multiple 'getting lost' moments and enjoy the nature, water, peace, freedom and the activities. During summer you can sail, row and surf to name a few in the lake. If you're a golfer, pack your bag, call your caddy and go play with your friends. If you're a biker enthusiast or like to walk, there are five routes around the park of which the shortest is 5km and the longest is 31km. Just recharge your mp3 player or your singing skills, whichever you prefer and show yourself what you're able to do.


Human beings needs nutrition too. Here's an error Fred forgot in his eccentric ambitions on getting as fast as he could to his destination. I did the trip with the power of two eggs and a glass of water. Later I tumbled upon a banana, an apple and 2 liters of juice. 60km of constant pedaling and what is the reward? An apple ...and stiff, cramping thighs. Not regretting anything. Because now I'm going to enjoy a huge steak. In-joy some pics!

The freedom (Grand Parc) and The nutrition (Bellecour)

Artjacking

There are clubs and then there are Clubs. The name is Artjacking. The creative fellows behind this movement are Pierre Arbey, Jules Fauvey and Jean Granon. They throw clubs in Paris, Dijon and Lyon to name a few places with DJ:s from around France. If you haven't been to one, be sure to catch the next one in June, because unless you heard about this the first time, you definitely missed last night in Ambassade (Lyon).

A sale/launch of Hixsept products and a pregame was held in a clothes shop called U&I where every interested being got free drinks. Free drinks! This is some nice service and good marketing. French know how to get people to come your parties. The place was crowded!

Why am I telling this? Not only did I attend the parties without knowing almost anybody but I was taking photos during the night for the fellows too. I did luckily manage to get my french on a level that I managed to make some friends though. Fun to be something like a photographer, my friends and frenemies.

People thought I was Norwegian. Norway and Finland? Sure, same stuff, somewhere in the north, it's the same language, right? No? Okay. Life smiles anyway. In-joy your pastis and the pictures.

U&I

Ambassade

"Never think of the future, it comes soon enough" -A.Einstein

Then there were errors

When my Mother sent me a message on her birthday that she's "planning such a party that the whole air space of Europe has been shut down in order to maintain the security" it sounded just like another top 10 joke. Oh mom, you're such a joker! Knowing what had happened on Iceland the little fellow Fred didn't really get the big picture of what it really meant for the rest of the world. 1821 the volcano kept on erupting such a long time we don't even want to imagine on the consequences if it's going to be erupting for over a year. Although we should.

This is the moment for Boeing and Airbus to come up with new radical ideas how to keep the airplanes up and going despite, let's say minor setbacks OR we could take out the DC-3:s and install desert filters in them! Most importantly we should implement this fabulous thinking of the ability of modification in new planes. Make them fly backwards or paint them yellow. Just make it work. And the world laughs at him, Fred takes the laughs with pride and honor.

How did France manage these times? As following:
1) Organize a train strike (SNCF)
2) Make sure a volcano messes up all flights in Europe
3) Don't do much effort to make the inhabitants happy
4) Enjoy the product
5) Be French

But don't worry beloved fellow humans who can't fly without the help of jet engines! Planes are coming back to the airspace as we speak and will make flights from unknown destinations to other unknown destinations. And the little SNCF strike is probably going to be over soon too. Fascinating. Mother, I guess your party starts to come to its end soon, so go on and in-joy what's left of it!

Planes spotted going west from Lyon!

Parc de la Tête d'Or

Good morning! Something's wrong with me. It's Sunday and I woke up at 8.30am with aucune possibilité to fall asleep again. I thought I would never get up to my alarm clock that would've rang 1½ hours later. It might be because of the weather. The weather, my brothers, sisters, dads, moms, grandpas and grandmas, the weather. It's incredible. 20 degrees and sun, so warm you can hang around in a t-shirt and shorts in the night without the mosquitoes. They haven't arrived yet.

What is there to do in this town on days like these then? You can sit by Rhône, the river, chill out somewhere on the streets, sit on a terrace somewhere OR one of the most popular things among the locals: hang around in the park (Tête d'Or). The whole day. Having a picnic on the grass half naked is something that makes you so relaxed even the fact of the nonexistence of Fran doesn't matter.

The park is always crowded with people that are either playing football or any other sport, people who're chilling and crazy dancers who're doing these weird flips like it would the most natural thing to do. The kid in me gets excited once more: "That's something I want to do too!" So I was flipping around and eventually landed a bit on my head. There's been some damage towards that area lately, last in Les 7 Laux, but then the landing was powder, not grass. But still, I'm living by the 'Impossible is nothing'. When you see guys making flips like it would be just another walk in the park, you do want to try it yourself, right? Don't worry Mom, I won't hurt myself!

In-joy the memory of Fred and his ability of taking the camera with him this time!

Leleu taking a pause when people are running around it. Red lights are recommendations.

 

 A mother and her daughter playing ball in the park. Just the other Saturday.

 The park crew of this time. See the shadows compared to the amount of clothes? Exactly.

M83 - We own the Sky

Who owns the sky? The ashes do. Can't see them here in Lyon yet, but I guess they'll come owning us soon too. Thank you wonderful powers of Earth! Sorry you guys who've missed their flights!

We had a little day trip to Grenoble yesterday, a town surrounded by mountains about 1h30min east from Lyon that I had only seen on my starving walks between the Grenoble train station and the burger joint Quick which happens to be in the same building. A waiter from a local cafe told us that there's plenty of things to see, the Bastille, a park and... that's it. Cool, this place is blooming with sights! The park wasn't anything superbly special but the Bastille which is an old fortress on the mountain with a sight over Grenoble is definitely a place worth visiting. The camera got left behind to Lyon by an unidentified reason so there's unfortunately nothing to show off this time. Sorry. Next weekend the goal is to get to Annecy and take a swim in one of the cleanest lakes in Europe. It's going to be cold and unforgettable!

What else? Fran is gone. The apartment is empty. The sun is shining, but somebody's missing. So I'm going to take my other love (Leleu) on a roll around town! Check out these Fred Productions! If you're interested give me a note.

Leleu 57cm trackframe (Lyon)

 Bugatti 61cm conversion (Helsinki)

Visamaestro 58cm conversion (Helsinki)

Suburban 26" (Helsinki)

Huevos al Nido

Martin Luther King once said those famous four words "I Have a Dream", then it kind of escalated into this big positive thing and later for example Common made a song sampling his words, "A Dream". Brilliant song. Do I have dreams? Sure, before I got to France I really didn't know how to fulfill them. Now I do. Have you ever heard of the brands Nike or Adidas. You have? Wonderful, makes this easier. They've got these fantastic slogans "Just do it" and "Impossible is nothing". You see my point? I hope you do.

Tonight I was going to grab a casual beer and watch a movie, maybe. Well, I DO live with a Spanish guy who loves to surprise, unconsciously. So I got invited to a dinner that was going to be held at our place. Wait a second? I got invited to my own house for dinner? I love the Spanish. The world changes, so do plans, so later on I was sitting in our 11 square meter kitchen with 8 other people waiting for a delicious dish made by Alberto according to his Grandmother's recipe. And I tell you, I've never ate a 15cm baguette and been completely full afterwards!

Take a baguette (you people who don't know what this word means, check it out on urbandictionary.com), dig a hole in the side of it, dig out the bread, insert Jambon de Fran (c), chorizo, an egg yellow and a stirred egg white. Fry it in oil and voilà.

What happened then? It was more fun than you would think! In-joy!

Let this stone begin its rolling journey

This text was supposed to be born for about seven or eight months ago when I started my exchange year in Lyon, France. Well, it didn't, did it? No. Life goes on and the miracle of creation descended from heaven and appeared in my head. Problem is I've only got 2 months to go in Lyon. I'm going to write a best-seller book of forgotten and unforgotten experiences before I tell you everything from those past months, meaning that it's TOO MUCH. Let's do this in a nutshell: I've been in school, met a shitload of nice people, met new friends for life, snowboarded almost a month on the French alps and learned French. Done, so let's focus on the time being and the future. You'll love it.

"What happened in his life this weekend?" I hear my imaginary friend George ask himself. Well, Fran (my Spanish flatmate, my brother from another mother) rushed in my room on Friday (Franday) and asked if I'm ready for The trip. I had been somewhere dreaming about knee-deep powder again because this was news to me. What, Where and when? "Marseilles, tomorrow." After a slight confusion and a hit in the face I coughed out an adventurous YES! "Start at 8.30am" the Spanish way which means in this case 11am. 311km later we shake hands with the owner of the Backpackers Hostel La Cigale et la FourmiAdresse :. A day at the beach and a random encounter with Johan, a very skilled photographer later we're in the hostel again. After a mediocre night sleep we went out playing tourists around town. It was intriguing and relaxing. Notre-Dame de la Garde, the old port, the sea, the people, the sights in general etc. Now I've been to Marseilles twice without seeing the bowls from THPS2, so I still have a reason to visit the city again. Why am I telling all this? I don't know. I guess George would like to know. Anyways, we enjoyed one superb weekend in Marseilles with Fran, Ana, MJ and Cristina. Sun was shining and the temperature went up to 26 degrees not Fahrenheit. Next weekend to the alps maybe?

In-joy some of the pictures of the trip, please. A+ tout le monde!