Fête de l'Escalade

Despite forecasts of snow, sleet, and generally cold weather, we awoke to a a cold but sunny day. With the Escalade Celebration in force in Geneva, we decided to join our friends Doug and Cheryl and we headed into the big city. The Escalade is quite the festival...here's the historical summary (thank you Wikipidea!)

"L'Escalade, or Fête de l'Escalade (from escalade, the act of scaling defensive walls) is an annual festival held in December in Geneva, Switzerland, celebrating the defeat of the surprise attack by troops sent by Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy during the night of 11–12 December 1602.

According to Genevois legend, Catherine Cheynel, a mother of 14 children, seized a large cauldron of hot soup and poured it on the attackers. The heavy cauldron of boiling soup landed on the head of a Savoyard attacker, killing him. The commotion that this caused also helped to rouse the townsfolk to defend the city."

Towards 5:00, with the sun setting and a cold humid wind winding up from the lake, we wisely packed it up and headed home. All in all, it was loud and fun and a good time was had by all, including Tigger and Telly!