Paris...TGV

Having woken up late, Melissa and I bounded down the three sets of stairs to make it to the free breakfast supplied by the hostel. It was baguettes and jam. Nothing like submersing into our new culture with a bang! They were absolutely amazing, only our nonconsciousness taking away from them.

We got ourselves cleaned up and left, making sure we had all of our worldly possessions on us. We headed for the metro (much lugging of suitcases involved) and made our way to the Eiffel Tower. It is an amazing piece of metal work. stretching up towards the sky, with no thought of not reaching the heavens. The weather was warm, but the overcast sky put a damper on the excitement. After making sure we had had more than a sufficient number of photo opps, we made our way through the streets of Paris in search of a fruit stand.

After asking for directions, twice, did we find a small supermarche. The supermarches in France are very specific. There is the produce vendor, a boulangerie (bakery), a bouchourie (butcher), etc. So one does there shopping pretty much daily, stopping where there is the most need. We purchased so fruit, found a courtyard to enjoy it in, afterwards heading to the Gare de Lyon (train station).

We arrived early, making sure that we knew where we were and what train we needed to board. There was a pay phone to try our newly purchased phone cards (that didn't work till much later and many questions). So I called home using my visa card. The proceeding four minute phone call cost me $85.34!!! what on earth! But hearing the voices of my family was worth it. It turns out that the gare has two different ends and when we were searching out the correct train, we were, naturally, at the wrong end. Sprinting ensued and we boarded the train completely winded. Suitcases with wheels are great, but they don't do corners very well.

We made it to Lyon, fairly event free after the running. It only took us three metro tickets to get ourselves to the Auberge de Jeunesse (which is at the top of the cliff - requiring a funiculaire). We checked in, dropped the luggage and went is search of food. We found this little pizza parlour. The pizza was paper thin - really, it was more like a skinny pannekooke with mushrooms and pepperoni. We splurged on some Haagen Daas (well earned). The night was extremely humid and warm - definitely not condusive to sleeping.