Dans La Republique Du Bonheur!

Sunday, while riding the bus in Lyon, I saw a sign and thought...yes...that's exactly right.

 

It says, "In the country of happiness."

France, for me, is like coming home. It's like seeing an old friend you haven't seen in a long time but didn't know you were missing. And a million other analogies like...your favorite shoes, or your old favorite song, or like when you smell something that takes you back to childhood...like honeysuckles in spring.

Walking around France is also like walking through my memories real time. Kind of terminator style. (the boys on my group just informed me that that reference doesn't make sense.) Basically, if you imagine a pair of glasses where one lens looks back and one lens looks forward and you're looking at both at the same time. I love that I'm making new memories in parallel with my old memories...sort of like re-memories.

One of my favorite re-memories are the pastries. Oh la! The pastries. I've had to exert some level of self control...only two a day.

My health coach is cursing me right now! But I've also been able to stick to my exercise goals because Lyon is an amazing place to run. There are two rivers that go right through the heart of the city with a great running trail the entire length of both. Can you see the stairs descending the side of the river?

 

It's also just a great city to explore on foot and get your fit bit steps in! I finally passed my friend Marshall on the Fit-Bit...so now I feel really good about things! That's straight up 7.5 miles in one day! Just walking around!

And when you're done eating and walking around, France is just the kind of place where you sit in a park and drink hot chocolate in a tiny glass and reflect on the meaning of life. After all it is the country of happiness.

Here's a fun video of the team exploring the city!


http://youtu.be/VNUumtnaQVM

Loves to you all,

Shai