Paul and I went travelling for a few days to the south of France right before Christmas. We went to Lyon first, then Marsailles, then Lourdes. We were travelling by train and so we both bought a carte 12-25 which acts somewhat like a ISIC card where you get a percentage off of your train fare because you are under the age of 26. So, we both bought this card and went on our way. We went to Lyon via train that took about 6hrs. I dont think we actually talked to each other the whole time we were on the train. It was nice to be with someone else but then at the same time, we were both reading our books (well-actually, I was mostly sleeping) We arrived at Lyon without a clue on really what we should do next. We knew we had to find a hostel, hope they werent full, book a few nights and then figure out the city. So, we started with step one, we went to the tourism office which are normally in trains stations and we got a map as well as a list of the hostels in Lyon. We went to the first one on the list (there were only 2) and we each booked into a room. First, let me tell you about Lyon. The city is gorgeous and half of it is built on/in a hill. Now, Im not talking about a Huron-Perth county hill, Im pretty much talking about the side of a mountain (a small mountain but a mountain nonetheless). So, the train station is on the flat part of Lyon but (of course) the hostel wasnt. Boy, it was quite the climb. When we finally got to the top, we were both SO exhausted. We booked beds and signed up for a walking tour (of course we both knew the walking tour was going to be up the mountain) for the next day and then we went out to explore the city. We went on a ferris wheel which was very pretty. Like, the ferris wheel in Paris, you could see all the city sites. We ate out at a little Italien restaurant (which was lovely) and Paul will tell the story about how we were sitting in the restaurant in Lyon, listening to the radio (which plays mostly english music that would NEVER get air time in North America) and Nickleback came on the radio. Paul says "man, no matter where you are in the world, you can never escape Nickleback." He's probably right. So, after dinner and after our cafe (people in France always go out for dinner and then usually go to a different cafe for a coffee and so Paul and I had gotten into the habit of doing that as well) we walked around Lyon some more. We found this really nice church that has a time clock in it that shows the time until 2019. I didn't really understand the whole thing but basically, this thing will show the time, the month, the date, the year, the day of the week until 2019 and it has different hands to point to the month, the date, the year and the day of the week. I'm still not quite sure what will happen in 2019 to make this thing incorrect but I decided not to think about it because its way too over my heard. Anyways, the time clock was really cool..
We didnt really do too much the first night because were both tired. We played a bit of Pay Me (which is a card game that I always beat Paul at) and then hit the sack.
The next day we went on out walking tour with this man who had THE BEST combover Ive never seen. Seriously, it was amazing. Also, he had dyed his hair so many times that part of it was actually yellow (the rest was white) and the whole left side was combed over to his right side. It was incredible. He was a very nice man who wanted you to know,love and appreciate the history (renaissance vs. middle ages buildings and what the differences are- we saw about 15 examples) of Lyon. We walked up the mountain to a cathedrale and then around the city and its two rivers. It was an excellent tour. Afterwards, Paul and I, this other Canadian who was on our tour as well as this guy from Quebec and this girl from the states went out for lunch. We had kabobs. This started Paul's love for kabobs. It was all down hill from there. So, basically the only thing we all had in common was that we were about the same age, all traveling, and all from North America and that, at that moment, made us all best friends.
Paul and I spent the rest of the afternoon in an art museum. Art is finally growing on me and I have Paul and his love for art to thank. We went for dinner and then for coffee and went back to the hostel to see what the other people were up to. We ended up talking in a huge group of travelers for a while and Paul and some other guys (including a crazy Irelander) went out for a couple drinks. I ended up talking to this girl who hadnt seen her fiance in over 2 yrs and was going to see him in 2 days. Apparently, they mostly talk via internet and they are finally meeting up in Paris to make sure they still want to marry each other. It was actually a very weird conversation. I was thankful when Paul came back although, I did really enjoy this girl. She was also talking about all of the work she has done in other countries and where she's lived. Her and her family picked up and came to France for 3 weeks and she might stay longer or she might go back to the US.. talk about having your life in mid air. wow.
Paul and I had to get up pretty early the next day because we were catching the train to Marseilles (and we got to walk down the hill to the train station this time). When we got to the train station, we went to our platform and it said that the train was just about to leave and (of course, me, not being able to remain calm) I start freaking out because the train was going to leave and we werent on it. We get on the right cart and start looking for our seats and find out that our seat numbers dont exist on this train. We were confused until we realized that the train we were on was not going to Marsailles but it was a train that was en retard and hadnt even left yet (and that was going to another completely different city). Not only that, but we were in first class looking for our seats. You can imagine how funny this was for people who are already on the train because clearly they have money, they're all settled in their seats because the train was supposed to leave a half hour earlier and here we are, getting on the train, speaking english, clearly we're backpacking as we both have backpacks on and then to top it all off, we cant even find out numbers on the cart and it took us a while to realize that a) this train was about to leave and b) it wasnt even the right train. Haha, it was halarious.
So, our train to Marseilles finally came, we got on and once again, didnt speak to each other the whole train ride (which was about 6 hrs)
Alright, thats enough for today. Ill write more about the rest of our trip a little while later.
No comments:
Post a Comment