My pictures this week are mostly from my recent visit to Parc de la Tête d'Or, the Park of the Golden Head. Legend has it that in the park, an enormous expanse of land containing a lake, an island, a zoo, a cinema, the contemporary art museum, and botanical gardens, there was a buried golden head of Christ. Searches for the head immediately after the establishment of the park (1856, making it exactly contemporaneous with New York's Central Park) proved inconclusive, but the name stuck.
I visited the Parc on a very nice day -- the weather might have been as warm as 50 Fahrenheit! My forearms were exposed to French sunlight for the first time. I followed the paved promenade around the lake, journeyed through a short tunnel to the island in the lake, explored the upper reaches of the Parc, passed through the zoo and the botanical gardens, got lost trying to find the Orangerie, and wandered by the deer field on my way back. The adventure took several hours, all told, but the pictures were pretty worth it. I'll definitely be heading back there in the spring when the weather is nicer.
In other news, the professors are still on strike and little of note has been going on in terms of classes. Since we are now on winter break (break from what, I ask you?), the hope is that classes will resume on Monday the 23rd. If this is the case, the two makeup weeks built into the semester calendar before exams will suffice to make up the missed classes, and the calendar will be unchanged. However, if the strike continues, other makeup steps will have to be taken, although no one seems prepared to identify those. I am not worried, since there's really nothing I can do.
I am, however, very happy to be going to Italy tomorrow, as I'm sure there will be lots to see and do in Florence (and Pisa and Siena, for that matter). Look for pictures around this time next week, but not too many, since my various attempts to get a larger memory card have thus far been unsuccessful. I need a new camera.
Well, for now, enjoy the sunny eye candy.
Huge student manifestation in Place de Terreaux. The banner is (I think) expressing a general solidarity with the professors who are striking.
Geese wandering around on the green, occasionally threatening small dogs.
One of the (manmade) tributaries to the lake: detail of submerged leaves.
Shot of the World War I monument on the island in the lake. The names of the approximately 10,000 Lyonnais soldiers who died during the war are inscribed on granite tablets around the base of a large statue.
Looking back across the lake from the island/memorial.
Looking down the garden plots, which just made me long for spring.
In the gardens: something is blooming!
In the gardens again: lovely laid-out English style hedgework.
And finally we meet the deer!
Leaving the Parc: long shot in late afternoon.
I love the striped marble. Never seen that before.
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