neighbourhood fête
Now that summer is properly here (except for La Bise which has been blowing madly again!), the city is blooming with all sorts of events for everyone to enjoy. From strawberry picking to goat festivals (yes, really) to outdoor music festivals, most of the events are free or priced very affordably. The city council of Geneva has funded a series of fêtes called 'La Ville Est à Vous' ('the city is yours') and different neighbourhoods across the city take turns to organise street parties and concerts for residents and visitors. The programme is left entirely up to the neighbourhood planning committee so each fête has its own distinct character.
Over the past weekend, it was our neighbourhood that hosted the fête. The streets on one end of our estate were closed off, and from our apartment we had a great view of everything and could hear all the music performances as well. After The Bun's Sports Day was over and the kids had a rest at home, we went downstairs to check things out.
Lots of people had lined the streets with flea market stalls selling all sorts of er, household junk. One man's junk is another man's treasure, eh? Maybe we were late because all the stuff that I saw were basically stuff that had been languishing in a storeroom or cellar for ages, but then again I didn't really dig through the stalls so who knows what treasures there may have been. The Bun ended up getting a plastic dinosaur for his collection. There were people standing around selling baked goods from their homes and marshmallows on sticks for the kids - all unregulated, of course, which a part of me found charming (that's how a neighbourhood street party should be like!), while the germaphobe part of me studiously ignored The Bun's requests for the sweets.
We didn't stay long because I had to go to the airport to pick J up, but we returned the next day (Sunday) to look at the parts of the fête I had missed. Our apartment complex is situated on a hill that overlooks a small organic farm, which we can see from our kitchen balcony. Even though we're so close by, our family never visited the farm last summer and autumn, and all winter it was shut. But now that the sun's out, they're back in business. We went inside to take a look and bought sweet potato, cabbage, and apples - not seasonal I know but these were what called out to me. I heard that the peas are supposedly coming in nicely so perhaps I'll pop by in a week or so to buy some since our household eats peas very often.
I passed Bao an apple to keep her occupied while she was in her stroller and thought that she would just hold it and play with it. She's not a fan of apples even when I peel and slice them at home so I didn't expect her to actually eat it, which she did. I tried to pay for it (half-chewed and all) and the guy waved me off, which is good because when I tried to remove it Bao began to wail. She ended up eating more than half of it, which impressed me. I'm going to pack an apple the next time we're on a long shopping trip or a plane ride because she was blessedly silent and chill, just slowly gnawing away at the apple.
Outside the farmhouse there were a couple of food stalls, a small stage in front of the farmhouse and for the kids, free donkey rides. The Bun had a ride and enjoyed every bit of it, even the part where his donkey ground to a halt and refused to move because it wanted to scratch a foreleg.
So that was our neighbourhood fête - nothing ground-shaking but very pleasant all the same. We ate dinner at home on Sunday evening with a pretty good funk band playing in the background. Incidentally, there was a wide range of musical genres performing over the weekend. There was everything from heavy metal (which the kids rather enjoyed!) to rap (not very good) to classical guitar to blues and funk. On Saturday night there was even Elvis swinging it up at 10pm, which was cool. I like that they didn't just programme a bunch of easy-listening bands, but gave everyone a chance to hear all types of music. Props to the organising committee.
Over the past weekend, it was our neighbourhood that hosted the fête. The streets on one end of our estate were closed off, and from our apartment we had a great view of everything and could hear all the music performances as well. After The Bun's Sports Day was over and the kids had a rest at home, we went downstairs to check things out.
Lots of people had lined the streets with flea market stalls selling all sorts of er, household junk. One man's junk is another man's treasure, eh? Maybe we were late because all the stuff that I saw were basically stuff that had been languishing in a storeroom or cellar for ages, but then again I didn't really dig through the stalls so who knows what treasures there may have been. The Bun ended up getting a plastic dinosaur for his collection. There were people standing around selling baked goods from their homes and marshmallows on sticks for the kids - all unregulated, of course, which a part of me found charming (that's how a neighbourhood street party should be like!), while the germaphobe part of me studiously ignored The Bun's requests for the sweets.
We didn't stay long because I had to go to the airport to pick J up, but we returned the next day (Sunday) to look at the parts of the fête I had missed. Our apartment complex is situated on a hill that overlooks a small organic farm, which we can see from our kitchen balcony. Even though we're so close by, our family never visited the farm last summer and autumn, and all winter it was shut. But now that the sun's out, they're back in business. We went inside to take a look and bought sweet potato, cabbage, and apples - not seasonal I know but these were what called out to me. I heard that the peas are supposedly coming in nicely so perhaps I'll pop by in a week or so to buy some since our household eats peas very often.
I passed Bao an apple to keep her occupied while she was in her stroller and thought that she would just hold it and play with it. She's not a fan of apples even when I peel and slice them at home so I didn't expect her to actually eat it, which she did. I tried to pay for it (half-chewed and all) and the guy waved me off, which is good because when I tried to remove it Bao began to wail. She ended up eating more than half of it, which impressed me. I'm going to pack an apple the next time we're on a long shopping trip or a plane ride because she was blessedly silent and chill, just slowly gnawing away at the apple.
Outside the farmhouse there were a couple of food stalls, a small stage in front of the farmhouse and for the kids, free donkey rides. The Bun had a ride and enjoyed every bit of it, even the part where his donkey ground to a halt and refused to move because it wanted to scratch a foreleg.
So that was our neighbourhood fête - nothing ground-shaking but very pleasant all the same. We ate dinner at home on Sunday evening with a pretty good funk band playing in the background. Incidentally, there was a wide range of musical genres performing over the weekend. There was everything from heavy metal (which the kids rather enjoyed!) to rap (not very good) to classical guitar to blues and funk. On Saturday night there was even Elvis swinging it up at 10pm, which was cool. I like that they didn't just programme a bunch of easy-listening bands, but gave everyone a chance to hear all types of music. Props to the organising committee.