Cortege de Escalade

Yesterday as the little one and I walked back from dropping the big one at nursery we were accosted by a couple of under dressed youths wanting to know if we had seen the Cortege de Escalade. Having established that I clearly had no idea what they were talking about, I was then lucky enough to receive a short history lesson on the Escalade, an event in the night of 11th - 12th of December when Savoy French soldiers attempted to assault Geneva, and were beaten back. Over four hundred years later the Genevoise are still commemorating the event.

I did spend much of the morning slightly wary of teenagers, they all seemed to be carrying cannisters of squirty cream in one hand, and a plastic bottle containing and unidentified beverage in the other. As the little one and I walked into the city we saw thrown eggs and flour covering the pavements. Certainly on Friday it looks like the youths had a great time celebrating, I was sad we missed the parade. However there are supposed to be events all over the weekend, so we are looking forward to finding a few with the girls.