After five weeks of barely working came the first of many breaks from work. I traveled a bit in France with three other assistants in the area, although I’d only met one of them before the trip. All three are American- two from Seattle and one from Texas. To see all my pictures from the trip, go to my Facebook albums:
It began early Saturday morning (the 23rd). It was a bit of a tossup as to whether or not we’d even make it to where we were going because of the strikes going on lately. And this time, trains were definitely not running normally. I got to the train station in Lure bright and early to catch my 8:14am train. As expected, it was cancelled. There was nobody working in the station, and without internet access in my room, there was really no way for me to know exactly what my next option would be or which trains would and would not be running that day. I was fairly confident, though, that the next train to Belfort would get me to where I needed to be even though it wasn’t my original route. And that train wasn’t scheduled to leave until 10:50.
So I sat. And I sat. And I sat. It was cold. After a while an old man came in and asked if I could help him purchase a ticket to Belfort using the self-service ticket machine at the train station. I helped him, and then we both sat down on opposite ends of the train station and waited some more. Eventually he approached me again and asked if I’d like to go get coffee with him. So I took him up on the offer and spent the next hour or so sitting in a nearby café chatting awkwardly with him. I understood maybe 60% of what he said to me; he was too old to realize that he’s need to speak more clearly and more slowly for me to get it all.
We headed back to the train station around 10:40, only to find the train was running 40 minutes behind. Because of the strike, I’m sure. We sat next to each other on the train, and because of the delay, that meant rushing like crazy once I arrived in Belfort to catch my next train. It left me with about three minutes to stamp my next ticket (which I should have just done in Lure… wasn’t thinking I guess) and get on my next train to Lyon. This man was so nice to me. He helped me stamp my ticket when it seemed that every stamping machine was not working. I was clearly in a hurry, and there were so many people around I could barely make my way through. I literally ran to the next train, which took off only seconds after I got on. I felt bad that I barely had any time to say goodbye to my new friend and to thank him for the coffee and all his help!
Jessica and I were texting back and forth. We were both on the same train, but we’d never met. She gave me her seat number, and I went to find her about halfway to Lyon, so once we finally arrived I knew who to look for. The two of us made our way by foot all the way across Lyon to our hostel. Along the way, we randomly ran into one of Jessica’s friends from home. And by randomly I really mean randomly. They literally just walked past each other on the street completely not expecting it. How weird! She’s studying abroad in the south of France and was in Lyon for the weekend with two friends. While we were stopped talking for a bit, out of nowhere came all these motorcyclists down the street and around the corner, honking their horns as loud as they could for probably 10+ minutes. It was impossible to have a conversation, and there was just this mob of people watching these angry motorists going by. Figured it was just part of the strike, but I wouldn’t consider it a “riot” as some people have described were happening in Lyon. Eventually it died out, and once we found the hostel, we dropped our stuff off and headed out to look at the town. We arrived around 4pm, so after a while we had some dinner at a pizza/pasta place. It was the first of many amazing meals that week. Already I was enjoying myself, and the vacation had barely begun. After dinner we headed to the end of town to meet up with Jessica’s friend as long as we were in the same city. But by the time we made it to meet them, it was getting too late to really do anything. We had to head back to the train station to pick up Ariel, Jessica’s friend from home who’s working as an assistant in a different region. It was quite a walk back, but once we picked her up, we just headed back to the hostel and went to bed.
The next morning we learned who our roommate was for the night. I’m not huge on staying in hostels, but the cool thing is that you just never know who you’re going to meet. That night a 50-ish year old woman was in our room with us. We hadn’t met her the night before because she was already asleep when we got back to the room. But in the morning I talked to her a bit, and it turns out her cousin is a teacher at the school I’m working at in Lure. I’m supposed to say hello to him for her, but I haven’t yet because I still haven’t worked yet since being back from break!
Our hostel was located on a hill. If you’re at all familiar with Lyon, you might know that at the top of the city sits a large cathedral. To get there without using the metro, you walk up a never-ending hill. This is the hill where our hostel was, although it was near the bottom. But since we were already partway up, we decided to start the day with the church. But before that, along the way, are a bunch of Roman ruins. So the three of us spent maybe an hour walking around looking at them. I took some time to ask myself how the heck these people from sooo long ago who had no technology like we have today could have possibly built these amazingly beautiful buildings. And then to think that all that’s left of them is practically nothing. We went to the museum there, which was pretty much all about the Romans. I don’t like to read in museums. I just look. But what I saw was pretty cool.We continued our way to the top of the hill, where we visited the Fourvière cathedral. We stepped inside for a few minutes, and there was actually a mass going on at the time. While I didn’t understand everything going on, eventually they started praying. I was listening, and realized it was a prayer I recognized. It was either the Apostle’s Creed or the Nicene Creed. Not sure exactly, because it’s been forever since I’ve said either of those in English to being with. So the whole time I was trying to repeat the words to myself in English, just to see if I could remember it and match it up with the French. It became too fast, but it was pretty cool I could understand and recognize most of it! The cathedral overlooks all of Lyon, so it was pretty awesome up there.
For lunch we walked down the cutest little café/restaurant street. Looked at a million menus and finally picked a place. I made it a point to eat a salade lyonnaise, which was actually quite delightful. Next course was something about a pig, followed by an amazing chocolate cake something covered in just-as-amazing cream. Just wonderful. J
After lunch we went to the cutest museum I’ve ever been to. The combination of stuff in the museum was a little random. First we saw a bunch of stuff from movies. I mean, literally, there were things on display that were used in actual movies. Most of the movies I’d never heard of, but I did think it was pretty cool to see a REAL gremlin. A lot of the things were used for special effects… like models of human body parts that they used in bloody or stunt scenes or something. Anyway, the majority of the museum was a bunch of miniature stuff. It was like no museum I’ve ever seen before! It was literally just a bunch of tiny things that people made. Little itsy bitsy pieces are art. Like dollhouse accessories! It tied in to the movie theme a little bit by showing at one point how they use miniatures in movies to create certain effects that they couldn’t create in real life.
It became a pretty rainy day, so we walked around Vieux Lyon a bit, which is absolutely adorable, and found a super cozy café to sit in for a couple hours. My cappuccino came with so much whipped cream on top. It was creamy and delicious, and I was in heaven. It made it even better knowing that it was raining outside.Ariel had brought with some pages from her tour book, and there was a burger place listed as a top place to eat in Lyon. I’m really glad she had it, because we’d never have thought to go to this burger place for dinner. It was tucked away in the corner of the city, but it was a make-your-own-burger type of thing, and really good. (And I know what many of you are thinking. I had chicken in mine.) Again, food makes the day. It was just so fabulous and luxurious to be able to spend so much time in restaurants, just sitting and talking over food or coffee, not being rushed to see absolutely everything there is to see. It made the whole trip quite a relaxing one.
Monday morning we met our new roommates, who ended up spending the next two nights with us as well. They were speaking some other language, and at breakfast (at the hostel) we were discussing which language we thought it was. Sounded like Spanish, but we knew it wasn’t quite Spanish. My best guess was Portuguese, so when we got back to the room I asked them. It was Catalan. They were from Barcelona. How cool! And we were close.
We spent a good chunk of the morning shopping spontaneously. It wasn’t planned, but we were walking right past every awesome store in France, so we almost had to shop. We had lunch at a cute little restaurant right along the Rhone River. Tandoori chicken and more chocolate cake for dessert, just like yesterday’s only better—There was a big pile of whipped cream on the side.
We headed back to the train station to pick up Eryn. She was originally planning to arrive with us on Saturday, but she was sick so decided to stay home a couple extra days. Once we got her, we headed straight back to the cathedral and ruins (only this time we took the metro, so we only had to walk downhill) to make sure she wouldn’t miss anything important we did without her.
We roamed around the old town some more, which is just fun to do even without a purpose. We walked through a bunch of traboules, which we wouldn’t have known about if we hadn’t had a map pointing them out. They’re the passageways between buildings that people use to get to their apartments. But you’d never know to go through them because from the street they’re just big old doors. It was actually a bit eerie because the doors would close behind us, and we were basically “trapped” in there until we found the other end. Way back in the day, if I understood correctly, they used the traboules to transport silk.And for dinner… French onion soup and some sort of fromage blanc thing, only it was called… cervelle de… something. I forget, but it was just cheese in a yogurt consistency, with some sort of herb in it. And potatoes. Yum.
All right, this is where it begins to get interesting. Tuesday morning we went to this market. A rather big market in fact. Just as we were about to leave, something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. A bottle of wine. And not just any bottle of wine. Jurançon. It’s made in a super tiny region of France close to Bordeaux. When I studied in Pau, it was a pretty well-known regional specialty, and I regretted never buying a bottle to bring home to the United States with me. And I’m fairly certain you can’t just get it anywhere in France, so I knew that if I wanted to buy it I should just buy it then. I debated, because it wasn’t cheap. But I bought a bottle and was planning to save it for some special occasion this year. I left that place so excited. I felt satisfied. I found a treasure and was happy about it for the rest of the day. I carried that bottle of wine, along with quite a few other purchases I made that day, all over Lyon with me. It was a pain, but I knew it was worth it because the wine would make me happy. (I’ve never believed the whole “money can’t buy happiness” thing!) Anyway, I’ll come back to the wine in a little bit.
We spent the afternoon shopping and walking, stopping to eat just a small lunch. I had a super delicious omelet of some sort. Eventually we headed to the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen and the most delightful place I’ve ever visited. In the north of Lyon is a huge park called Parc de la Tête d’Or. I was expecting something little. It was huge!!! There was a zoo, so we saw some animals. But mostly my favorite thing about it was the people. It was like, family central. So many cute little families on cute little family outings. And there were vendors selling candy and ice cream and coffee and… I just can’t even explain how adorable this place was. Families were playing in the grass, walking dogs, eating cotton candy, looking at animals, just being happy together. It was my favorite part about the entire trip. And I think the season made a huge difference. That is, I don’t think it would have the same effect in the summer or winter. The trees were gorgeous, and it just added to the theme. We sat down along the river, with beautiful scenery, and had some coffee and crêpes. I could have stayed all day. It was just perfect.Just as we were leaving the park, we decided to use the toilets, which from the outside looked like just any old outhouse or whatever. But they were far from it. They gave you a 15-minute time limit, and once you exit they spray down the entire thing inside. We didn’t realize it at first, so as two of my friends were inside, I was watching the instruction screen telling us whether or not it was in use and what stage it was at in the cleaning process. I tell ya, the bathrooms here are so unpredictable. Some are horrible. Others are awesome. These were awesome. (I decided to use it, even though I didn’t really have to, just for the experience.)
That night we ate perhaps my favorite meal of the trip at an Indian restaurant in the old city. I’ve only had Indian food a few times now, but I’m falling in love with it.
Wednesday was our last morning waking up in Lyon. We knew the day might be a challenge, because we were to get to Annecy in the middle of this strike. We hadn’t bought our tickets yet, so we bought them upon arrival at the gare. As it turned out, the “train” we were meant to take was actually a bus. A nice French man helped up realize that we were to exit the train station on the complete opposite end from where we were (and mind you— this train station is huge, by my standards!) to find the busses. Okay, we did that. But there was no easy way to know which bus to take. In any case, it wouldn’t leave for another 45 minutes or so, so we waited and waited. By the time the correct bus arrived, there was already a huge crown of people cramming up by the door of the bus. It was absolutely ridiculous! I could not believe this many adults couldn’t even form a straight line. You see, they sell the tickets without any care to how much space there is. So everyone wanted to get on because if they didn’t, they simply couldn’t go, even with their ticket. Anyway, Ariel managed to get on pretty fast somehow. So while she was on waiting for the three of us, we put our luggage under the bus. Eventually Eryn made it on. Finally the driver announced there was not any more room. So Jessica and I grabbed our bags from underneath the bus and asked one of the workers what we were supposed to do. He told us, without much more instruction or explanation, to go quickly to platform F and take that train. Um, okay. So while Ariel and Eryn were on the bus, Jessica and I ran to the train, not entirely sure where it was going. We ended up sitting in first class, and I think they were holding the train for the few people who didn’t make it onto the bus. To our surprise, about a minute later Ariel and Eryn showed up. I figured we’d just meet up in Annecy, but they decided to run to the train and give their seats to a woman whose kids were already on the bus. Okay, wonderful. We were all in the same place, but still didn’t know how this would take us to Annecy.
We got off the train in Chambéry and got on another bus, which took us to Annecy. Back to the wine…
I stuck a bag with a few things in it on the shelf above the seats on the bus. And that was a huge mistake. Totally my fault, and didn’t even think about this when I did it. About 10 minutes into the 60+ minute bus ride, my bottle of wine fell directly out of my bag, above our heads, and onto the ground, creating a huge lake of Jurançon on the floor of the bus. I apologized profusely to the people sitting around me. Luckily it didn’t hit anyone, nor did it go under anyone’s seat or anything; I was sure it would spread under all the chairs and get everyone’s shoes full of wine, as I was near the back of the bus, but fortunately it only managed to spread about halfway up the bus, and only in the aisle. It looked like a marble painting. And every person who walked past my seat slowed down right where the incident happened. Almost all evidence was hard to see, except that the ground was so sticky. Everyone walking by looked very confused. The broken glass was still contained in my bag, thankfully. But I spent the rest of the bus ride trying to prevent anything else from spilling, although I’m quite certain all the possible damage had already been done. Drinking this treasure was already out of the question, so I figured I might as well enjoy the smell while the bus ride lasted. I felt so bad, thinking everyone on the bus was dying of such a strong wine scent. I later found out from Jessica and Ariel, who were sitting near the front of the bus, that they didn’t even know it had happened. So, there is was. My joy and happiness was spread out all over the floor of the bus. My day lugging that bottle through the park and across Lyon was for nothing. Oh well, there’s nothing I can do about it now.
Everything was better when I saw Annecy. It was such a perfect city. One of my cooperating teachers from last fall recommended it to me, and had she not, I never would have known it existed. I’m so glad she did, because it was… well… perfect. Surrounded by the Alps and cuter than ever. I mean honestly, I can’t even describe it. We walked to the castle, which is now a museum, and went inside. Spent an hour or so there seeing the various exhibits inside. Lots of art and history of the area. Afterwards we walked along Lake Annecy, which was almost as cute as the park in Lyon. I just love the fall! The trees and colors made all of this 10 times better than it would be any other time. We had a luxurious dinner of fondue and a charming fruity-ish salad that night. It was awesome. Lots of bread. Lots of cheese. I love it.
Thursday morning we headed to get coffee bright and early. Sat there for a while, enjoying our own company and coffee until the crêperies opened for lunch. Then we finally went to one and had crêpes for lunch. And they were not lunch crêpes. They were delicious chocolatey gooey dessert crêpes. For lunch. With more coffee. Actually I had hot chocolate with mine. It was amazing. Seriously, all this food made the trip worth it.
We didn’t do a whole lot of anything besides relaxing in Annecy. We shopped around a bit, but spent the rest of the evening walking further around the lake again, just enjoying the lake and the trees and the mountains. I loved watching the people out and about. People jogging. Kids playing. People playing music. On the way to find dinner, a man stopped us and commented on the fact that we must be Americans. He could hear the accent, and as it turns out, he was from Minnesota! It felt like he was my long lost friend or something, even though we’d never met. He explained that his daughter is in France on a Fulbright grant, then pointed her out to us. She came over, along with her three kids, her husband, and her mom. I was intrigued!Turns out this woman is a French teacher at a high school in Minneapolis. What a small world! I told her my situation and wrote down her name and school she works at. It was my lucky day I guess. I talked a lot with her husband. So they pretty much just moved their family to France for a year. Their two sons (I think 1st and 3rd or 4th grade?) are going to school here and have never learned French before. When they return home next year, they’ll just start at the next grade level, so they’re not falling behind at all! One of the boys was pretty quiet, but the other (the 1st grader) was so talkative and excited to tell me things. In the middle of my conversation with their dad, who also had never been to Europe before and spoke little French, the boy would just interrupt and get so excited to tell me they saw the Eiffel Tower! He told me all these exciting things he’s seen and done since he’s been here. I told the boys how lucky they are, and they were excited to tell me some French words they know already and all about their new lives here. How awesome!
Well, after about 20 minutes talking with my new friends, we found a place to eat dinner, and we had tartiflettes. Thanks to Ariel, I know they’re some sort of specialty. To be honest, I’m not totally on top of what the regional specialties are of the areas of France, and I never would have known to try it if Ariel hadn’t mentioned it. But anyway, it was gooey potato and cheese goodness. Mmmm. And ice cream for dessert. Yum.
The next morning was a mess again with the busses. Our hotel was really close to the gare, so we didn’t have to get up too early. But anyway, we bought our tickets to Grenoble and headed outside to figure out which bus we were supposed to take. Again, there were zero signs indicating which bus was going to which city. I asked a man in a red jacket and a green hat if he had any idea which bus was going to Grenoble, and he said he was also going to Grenoble and had no clue. So I figured if he didn’t know, and he’s French, then it was okay if we didn’t know. There was one bus with a huge mob of people again, and we knew we would get on our bus for SURE this time. So we figured we’d get in “line” by the bus with all the people waiting, just in case it was ours. Jessica and I were waiting together, and Ariel and Eryn were off trying to get more info about the other busses. There was constantly different news coming that helped us get to where we needed. At one point a big wave of people started moving down the sidewalk, and I spotted my green-hat man. So we followed, along with everyone else! Well, it was just one of those things where really no one knew where they were going, but everyone followed. So we went back to the maybe bus, only to find out eventually it was going to Lyon. Okay, so we knew that was wrong.
We started waiting by another one. Some man came up to me and asked me a question which I didn’t understand, but based on the circumstances, I was fairly sure he was asking me if I knew where this one bus was going. I started explaining what I DID know in French, and it turns out he wasn’t French at all. He was speaking English to me all along, I just didn’t understand him at all because he was from Australia! Holy cow, what an accent! Even after I knew that, it was a bit of a struggle to carry on conversation with him… in English! But anyway, he and his wife were also going to Grenoble. We finally got on the right bus, and both he, his wife, and the green-hat man were on the bus too, so I was happy. And there were even empty seats! It wasn’t as bad as the first time, but we acted as though it would be, just in case.
Day 1 in Grenoble, we stopped at a bakery to buy lunch and ate it in a nearby park. The woman working at the bakery asked me if we were English. Of course I told her we’re all American, and she immediately was all, “Oh yes, the American R. Rrrrrr. AméRicaine.” Made me laugh a little. And she made a comment about how my friends, who were already outside, sounded more English when they talked, and I sounded more American. Wasn’t necessarily what I’d prefer to hear, but thought it was interesting. Then again, she was a bit confusing to follow, so I can’t be so sure that’s exactly what she said. In any case, she told me I spoke French very well and was very easy to understand. Thanks! It’s funny that some people just don’t have the time of day to listen to us while others think we’re perfectly understandable.
Later we took a bubble (okay, I don’t know what to call it. But it was basically a bubble!) up to the top of the city. It was beautiful up there, with the mountains in the background. Grenoble really was like no other French city I’ve been to. It felt a little deserted, this huge city surrounded by nothing but mountains. When we were up top looking out over the city, I made a comment that the city reminds me of Las Vegas. They all laughed and couldn’t see how it could possibly remind me of Vegas. No flashy lights or huge hotels or anything. But I remember flying into Vegas and realizing it really is this huge city plopped in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but mountains surrounding it. And that’s just how Grenoble was.
We were told it would take only 30 minutes to walk down the hill back to the rest of the city. Um, yeah pretty sure it took way longer. It was pretty steep, so instead of a straight shot down, it was wound back and forth, back and forth. More than once we passed people walking up, even jogging up. I couldn’t believe it! I guess I can’t be sure they were jogging to the top, but if they were, kudos to them! It took pretty much the rest of the afternoon to walk down and finally decide on a place to eat dinner. Chinese food this time, and still as amazing as all other meals!
Saturday we split a little. Eryn and I went to the Musée de Grenoble, as awesome art museum. There was everything! Old stuff, modern stuff, French stuff, Italian stuff, Asian stuff… One of the featured exhibits was by this artist to carved tons of things out of wood. It was mostly people. Little people, maybe a foot to two feet tall. It was like he took a tree and carved it down to the shape of a person, with so much precision and detail. Some looked like paintings hanging on the walls. A few of the works were on the wall with a person, again sculpted from wood, positioned in front of the work as if he or she were looking at the art on the wall. There were also a few HUGE people, like bigger than a regular person. My favorite was this room full of penguins. Each was about the size of my hand, maybe a little bigger, standing either alone or in small groups on these little pedestals, which I think were also part of the tree. Just a room full of penguins, I think over 100 of them. Super cute!
We had lunch at a place where we sat next to some people who sounded so American that I had to ask. Get this. This woman was from Michigan and married a man from England, and now they live in France. Their daughter was born in Switzerland, and their American friend with them was married to an Italian man. I want to be part of that family!
Later we went to the natural history museum, where I stood closer to a real buffalo than I have in my life. It was pretty incredible. Okay so he was stuffed, but it was so cool. Believe it or not, I love looking at animals even though I hate being around them in real life.
That night’s dinner was my favorite of the trip I think. We ate at an Italian restaurant, and I had the most amazing pasta I’ve had in my life. Something filled with something green. Not entirely sure what was inside. Spinach maybe? It was absolutely delicious. After the main course, I went to sue the bathroom. No big deal, right? Every bathroom in these restaurants is so different, and this one was pretty nice. I was glad, just minding my own business using this clean bathroom. Well, then, something horrible happened. I couldn’t get out. For real. I couldn’t get the door open after trying for maybe 2 minutes. I called all my friends’ cell phones, and no one answered. (Understandably, because it was loud in the restaurant!) So finally I figured all I could do was pound on the door. So I did. I figured the people sitting closest to the bathroom would hear me. I was going through what could possibly happen next in my mind, imagining the firefighters coming to save me! Haha! Eryn came over eventually, after having realized I had called her phone. She helped me get out, but I’ll tell you, I felt so silly. It was a good laugh though. And for dessert… chocolate mousse. YUM!
Back at the hotel we watched some French version of Wife Swap. Highly entertaining!
That really is about it. Sunday we just spent the day on the trains. I got back to Lure around 8 or so that night, and I finally felt at home. On my way back from the train station, I surprisingly passed by four little kids dressed up for Halloween. It was so unexpected, as kids don’t really do that like they do at home. Made me feel a little cozier here. Regardless, leaving here and coming back really made this place feel more comfortable. It was broken in already before I left, so when I returned I felt more like I was coming home than living away from home.
Since the vacation, I’ve… well, I haven’t done much. I did get my Full House DVDs in the mail from my mom, so I’ve been having a marathon in my room and have been loving it. I’m currently almost halfway through season 4 (of 8). I don’t care how old I get or how outdated this show becomes. Uncle Jesse will always be my dream man.
Friday we had dinner at my place. It was soooo good. It was a perfect Friday night. The best I’ve had in a long time. Last weekend four of the five assistants in Lure did an interview with a journalist from the local newspaper. I met him outside my school one morning when the students were striking, and he proposed writing an article about us! So anyway, we did the interview, and it was super fun! Afterwards we went outside to take pictures, and he stopped traffic to take pictures of us in the street. So weird, but he’s the journalist and knows what he’s doing! The article was in the paper already, and when I get the time online perhaps I'll be able to find it to post!
2 comments:
I love your stories Bets! I can't wait to get to Europe again now!!!!!
You can be glad you're not in Mpls- we just got hit with an early blizzard- 6" of snow yesterday! Yikes!
Love / miss you!
So did you ever find the article for us? :)
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