So with nothing to do, we planned a day trip to Montbrison – a small city (15,000) that is 30km from St. Étienne. The train ride was only 34minutes! Bonus! There wasn’t a whole lot to see there, but it was just good getting out of our houses. David, Emma, Melissa and I went together.
There was a chunk of old city wall left and canals running through the city. The best part of the day was that the sun was shining! A completely rare thing for France during the winter months.

Melissa and I have been wanting to become spontaneous. So we decided that the following Thursday morning were going to head to the train station at 10h00 and get on a train. Any train. David came with us. We made it to Lyon (the bigger train station that heads out to everywhere else) and picked the next train out – Dijon. The capital of Dijon mustard. It was exhilarating, until we got on the train for the 3 hour ride. Ugh..
But we saw so much. There was a Beaux-Arts museum (free) from all time periods. There were relics from ancient Egypt, Middle Ages paintings, Revolution, and the Contemporary section. There was also an archaeology museum. It was raining so, to visit the museums was double functional – stay dry, be entertained/learn something.

There was a huge cathedral that had a colourfully patterned roof and also a crypt that was from the 11th century ! it was built in 1001AD. It was really cool and somewhat creepy in the same instance.