Spontaneous trip to Lyon

This story really begins last Tuesday, when I came home from teaching in the afternoon and was surprised to find that Meredith wasn't at home when I arrived. A couple hours later he showed up - having spent the afternoon negotiating a deal on a 1989 Citroen AX.

The weekend plan that developed was a ski trip in the Alps for Meredith, and he could drop me off in Lyon on the way. Unfortunately, the most logical (or cheapest) way of carrying this out was to leave Saturday morning at 3 am. After a 5 hour nap we were on the road. Meredith dropped me off at the airport around 6 am where I slept on a bench for a couple hours before taking a bus into the city.

It had been drizzling lightly as we'd driven through the night and I was annoyed at myself for forgetting my umbrella, but fortunately at this time the clouds had gone away and the sun was shining brightly. After hiking up the hill (which did not give me good feelings about April's marathon...) I found a hostel and left my bag before heading out into the city.

I spent some time shopping (something that doesn't really exist in Montlucon) and saw some of the general city sights - the Saone and Loire Rivers, the Opera House, the Hotel de Ville, etc. After lunch I walked back up the hill to the Roman ruins and wandered around. As I was taking pictures, some guy asked me if I were a journalist. I laughed and said, "Non, pas du tout (not at all)." "Vous n'etes pas francaise (you're not French)!" he said. I confirmed this and explained that I did, however, live in France, after which he complimented me on my good French! Then, when I went inside to buy a ticket to visit the museum, I was again complimented on my French.

I was really flattered, but you have to remember that speaking 'travel French' ('I would like a room for two nights,' 'One student-rate ticket please,' 'Where is the train station?') is a lot simpler than speaking real conversational French. So, although I can easily talk my way around while traveling through France, I can't really have a meaningful conversation. In addition, people in Lyon are probably very accustomed to tourists who might even speak less French than I do, so by comparison I sound good.

Back to my Lyon adventure: After the Roman ruins and museum I walked even farther up the hill to the Basilique Notre-Dame, which is pretty from the outside but has a terribly overdecorated interior. The view of the city from its vantage point was great though.

By this time it was late afternoon and I had been up since 2:30 that morning. I walked back to my hostel, changed into my running clothes and ran along the Saone River for about eight miles.

Back at the hostel I showered and started reading Cold Mountain in the common room. There I met a couple people from UNC who invited me out to get pizza with them where the proprietor complimented me on my French and and then gave me a free cup of hot sweet tea. The three of us stopped by a Spanish bar before meeting their friends at another place for a drink before going back to the hostel.

I didn't get nearly enough sleep Saturday night, as I had to wake up early enough Sunday morning to take advantage of the free breakfast and check out before 10 am. I spent Sunday visiting the Cathedrale Saint-Jean, strolling through a street market, learning that the Musee d'Art Contemporain was 'exceptionally' closed, and wandering slowly through the Musee des Beaux-Arts which had a disappointingly small collection of contemporary art.

I met Meredith back at the airport to make the three-hour drive back to Montlucon. We entertained ourselves by singing along with the radio, singing along with radio static, and laughing at some road signs we found exceptionally silly in our sleep-deprived state. For example, the slogan of the town of Thiers is "300 years of cutlery." Later, there was a series of two signs, the first stating, "One dash: Dangereux!" and the second, "Two dashes: Securite!" referring to following distance. Another favorite of mine was a truck with an overside load, labeled an "exceptional" vehicle. I am advocating that the Citroen should get an "exceptional" label to complement the "I (heart) Denmark" sticker.