Paris to Lyon

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11th December 2006 paris->Lyon

Up bright and early again... they were right when they said to treat every night as a saturday night, and every morning as a monday morning... that pretty much sums up the late nights and the early mornings.

Frogs and escargos in france

headed off for Lyon at about 9am, after the bus was packed and all were accounted for. wow how quick did our timefly in Paris. we only got a small taste of it and we're out of there... seemed like the bus ride was never going to end... 6 hours to get to Lyon.

escargos
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the trip was broken up with the occasional road side stop, at what we fondly refered to as "A grills!" kind of like a service station, only with a buffett type of thing.so interesting things to try... and a chance to test out our basic french and scare the locals!

extremely unhealthy snack to be purchased in order to help the bus trip pass quicker... nothing like a sugar high in a confined environment! did a bit of a get to know you on the bus.. exciting, got to play tour guide up on the mic for a few mins... oh how i loath public speaking! and a mic!

frogs legs
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but hey i survived my turn.. and in the processess got to laugh at how many of the boys were looking forward to amsterdam and the cultural experiences they would get...

Arrived in Lyon late afternoon... well at 4:30pm... but considering over here it gets dark at 3pm... it feels way later than it actually is.it's funny little groups are starting to form... you have the group dubbed as the "cool cats" a group of 4 boys from melbourne, and a group of 4 girls... who seem to have hit it off with each other, and won't associate with anyone but each other... also known as the backseat bandits! then you have the two superior chicks from sydney who are 27 and 25, who look down on everyone else because they're all so young... heaven forbit anyone should steal their front seat... that would just mean murder!...

Lyon Christmas markets
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but a part from that... everyone else is really nice...i have to say the strangest thing has to be walking around in another country and running into people you know. like in paris... everyone broke up and went their own ways, and you'll be walking down a random street and spot a few people from the tour, stop have a chat and carry on... just a really weird feeling... and it happens a lot, cause everyones going to be trying to see all the main touristy sights!

but you could really psyco analyise a tour group and the inner workings of social interaction... it'd be extremely interesting.there's one guy, named David, who from the very first moment i met him, screamed LOser.... and he really is.... OMG... i'm not exactly sure how anyone came be so totally non compatible with so many different people. there's a whole range of us on this tour to get to know, and yet no one can stand this guy...  he tries hard too, and everyone runs away....anyway i'm sure you're going to hear loads more about him as the story unfolds!

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after settling into our dark and dingy hotel in Lyon, we all met in the lobby, so tour guide dave could walk us into the old town for dinner...one thing about dave is that he walks fast... so if you stop to look at the pretty christmas markets, which of course we all did.... means you lose him quite quickly!... amusing when you're in a group (cause he comes back looking for you when he realises no one's following him...) but not so fun when he doesn't notice that anythings a miss... until he gets to the final spot, and there's 10/50 people following him!

somehow aided by the maps he'd handed out and highlighted the path we were meant to follow! we managed to catch up to him.... i actually think he stopped!and waited for the group to catch him... but hey... we found him, and he lead us through the cobblestone streets to the old town. it was like stepping into a time warp, tiny cobble-stoned streets, tiny little shops, and not much open!we were left to our own device to were we went to dinner. it was funny as we were all wandering around looking at all the menu's outside the restraunts, and the owners would come out and try convince you to come in and that they were the best... we were all ummmmmming and ahhhhhhhhhhing over what to have etc... until one rather persistant owner through in a free glass of their special french wine (which was delicious) and of course free alcohol... our group was in!.

ended up having dinner with Abby, Bec, Kev, Brent, Meg, Paul, and David who some how snuck on our table! with about 20 others that heard free booze, and came in to join us too!first thing we decided to do was sample the traditional feast of escargo's and frogs legs.... decided on a serving and then sharing them around, as no one was game to eat 20 of the slimy things themselves!

first came the snails, all nicely set out on a tray, in teir shells... looking very snail like!, not helped by the green go (the sauce) oozing from them! after everyone had their snail on their plate the fun began.... lol the locals must have though we were insane... everyone was taking pictures at random stages of eating them... hahaha... first you had to use this metal squewer type thing to stab the bugger to get him out of the shell, then you had to look at it all green and gooey, then you had to eat it... and i have to say it was quite nice...

next came the plate of frogs legs... now being a fan of frogs.... mmmmmm and not really a fan of eating the cute little creatures, i bravely pulled one out of the bowlit could have so easily been a mini chicken wing... that is until i turned it over, and you could see the two back legs!!!anyways munched away, and it's definitely true when they say frogs taste like chicken!.

from there we moved onto the menu, where we had a choice of entree, main, and dessert all for 12 euro...had ravioli with salmon, and the serving was huge, followed by a dumpling with lobster sauce which was deliious, and ended with this delicious chocolate tart...well we decided it was a chocolate tart...

so it's fair to say that dinner was a success... and delicious!

somehow managed to navigate our way back to the hotel... not without a stop at the local maccas just to order a beer! (who'd have thought you could by a bottle of beer at maccas! before heading back to the hotel.... after the random walk by of the jail... just cause it was down the road to the hotel... just to stir them up! :o)

the boys found a pool hall and went to play pool, but it was extremly smokey inside so most of us left.

i cant get over how much everyone smokes over here, and everywhere... i guess i'm used to going out places in australia and having non smoking places... here they just light up anywhere... in restraunts, in hotels, cabs, and just blow smoke where ever...kind of funny watching the aussies on our tour that smoke... even though they can light up where ever, they still go outside to smoke etc.

old habits die hard as they say.