bread, meat, cheese, and ferrari's

Today, we went to the morning market just across the border in France. Normally, I would not count myself as having visited Germany since I didn't leave the airport, but in this case, my point of entry on the Schengen Visa is Frankfurt, and there's a big stamp in there that says so, so I'm debating about whether or not I can count my number of European countries at three. If so tomorrow's four in four days. Not that it really matters... but it does.

They say that the troika of the American diet is a cheeseburger, french fries, and a milkshake. One can see how with a troika of bread, meat, and cheese (all fresh) Europeans are a far healthier people. After the market, we came back and ate said European troika. I thought of how odd it must seem to Europeans that the things called Farmer's Markets in the United States are seen as something of a renaissance of a phenomenon. This is a practice that has been going on in Europe for ages. And my reaction to the bread, meat, cheese is the same as it was to the coffee the day before. It's just so fresh and delicious and unavailable in the US. Now I'm really excited for some jamon Serrano once I get to Spain.

This afternoon, the Genevoise whom I'm staying with had tickets to the circus, so they dropped me in downtown, and I walked around for about three-and-a-half hours - good preparation for the life I'll be living in Màlaga most likely. I took some great photos of the lake, hiked up the hill to the old town. My journey took me past one of the two highlights of the day - three Ferrari's - and deposited me at the other - the Espace Rousseau.

Rousseau was born in Geneva in the early 18th Century, and lived virtually his entire life as an outcast wherever he went. Hume accepted him in Scotland after his exile from both France and Geneva, but Rousseau was convinced Hume was plotting against him and returned promptly to rural France. An enigmatic philosopher, he is someone whose works I hope to become more acquainted with than I am at present.

I exited the old town via a park which includes the Reformation Wall, something I remember visiting on my first visit to Geneva more than four years ago. My favorite attraction in the park, however, remains the 8 sq meter chess boards with .5 meter tall pieces. Every board was in use, almost exclusively by elderly gentlemen smoking pipes or cigars. After all of this, I met up with my family again, and we sat out at a café famous for its ice cream. I tried a dark chocolate sorbet which was delicious.

Our walk back to the car where they had parked several blocks away took us past what I found to be an odd phenomenon for Europe - a weight watchers. After I muttered hesitatingly about it, my aunt informed me that European employers frequently pay for their employees to attend because, naturally, it cuts down on other health costs. You mean a fit and healthy people are less likely to get other types of illnesses??? What a crazy idea (I still haven't found the exclamation mark on the French language keyboard).

Hasta manana de Espana...