Last Monday our heat wasn’t working. It had been out for about four days at that point. Once we realized it wasn’t coming back on for awhile, we grabbed Wade’s computer and booked some train tickets. We had decided to go to Lyon. It’s France’s second largest city. So Tuesday morning we set out for a 15 minute walk to the train station. We hopped on the train to Metz where we would hop on another train to Lyon. It was going to be a seven hour train ride all together, so we settled in for a LONG ride.
The train ride was uneventful. Our walk to the hotel was uneventful. We checked in, checked out our room, and then went to a local grocery store. A little tip, buy breakfast foods and maybe dinner at the store. You don’t want to pay for overpriced breakfast that the hotel offers. It’s a waste of money. Anyway, It was kind of late, so we decided to watch some tv and then go to bed.
The next morning we were off to see the historic part of Lyon! We rode a tram to the top of a hill. I’m sure people in Lyon would call it a mountain, but being from Utah, I call it a hill. We got to the top and went to the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourviere. It’s basically a very fancy cathedral. It was pretty awesome and the tram ride was definitely worth it. We then walked to the Theatre Romain. It’s a site that has some old ruins of a very big Roman theater. They still use the amphitheater for plays and such. Folks, it was awesome! We ended the day by going to an actual French restaurant. I say actual French because most of the time we end up eating at Subway. Don’t judge--Subway is cheap and pretty good.
We went to this French restaurant because apparently Lyon is the capital of French cuisine or something. Who knew? We ordered our food from a waiter who seemed miffed we didn’t order wine. The waiter seemed to get even more snippy when Wade had the gall to ask what the special of the night was. But we still got our food, and it was pretty good! About halfway through our meal, Wade seemed to be concentrating on something. I asked him what he was doing. He whispered--I don’t know why he whispered since no one can understand us anyway--that he was trying to figure out if the table next to us was speaking Malagasy. Now, I don’t speak Malagasy but if you’ve ever heard someone speak it, it’s crazy sounding. So there we were, straining to hear this couple’s conversation. You may think that’s rude, but I don’t speak the language and Wade was more just excited, because it's not everyday you run across some Malagasies. At one point the waiter, for some obnoxious reason, started picking up silverware in a tub and dumping it back into the same tub. It was so loud that it drowned out any other sounds in the restaurant. We thought perhaps he knew we were eavesdropping, so he decided to make the loudest noise possible! After about ten minutes of listening, we figured out that yes, indeed, they were speaking Malagasy. With our new found information we paid our bill, and much to our waiter’s relief, we left.
The next day we went to the Musée Miniature et Cinéma. This museum had a few sets from a French movie. As we moved on through the museum, we saw props from a lot of American and French films. It was way cool to see it all. At one point, they had some costumes from a few movies. That part was way cool! Towards the end of the museum, they had miniature sets. It would have been cool had it not been for a bunch of unruly teenage boys. By this point we were done and just wanted away from the noisy boys!
Later that night, we decided to go to a soccer match. Wade has been really wanting to go to one. We wanted to see how different they were compared to American soccer. Well, I'll tell you right now--they’re WAY different! At one point, I was in the bathroom and all I could hear was stomping feet about my head. It honestly sounded like I was at Helm's Deep listening to some terrifying Uruk-hai army!(Shout out to The Lord Of The Rings nerds who get what I'm saying!) Lyon was playing a Dutch team and they demolished them! It was fun to see all the crazy fans! In the end, Lyon had scored seven goals and the Dutch team only scored one.
The next day, which was actually my birthday, we left Lyon. We rode the seven hours back to Forbach. We grabbed some eclairs to substitute as a birthday cake. I wanted to eat all four eclairs, but decided it was better to let Wade have some too. I'm getting soft in my old age.
Well folks, here's a few things to remember. Not having heat is a perfect excuse to go on a trip. Grab dinner at a grocery store. Your wallet will appreciate it. The old part of Lyon is pretty cool. Waiters hate you if you order water instead of wine. Eavesdropping seems appropriate at times. You may find yourself at Helm’s Deep if you use a public bathroom at a soccer game. And last but not least, turning 27 was okay because I got to eat French eclairs!
Thanks for reading folks!
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