Lyon, Day 1

I actually woke up at 8 AM this morning. I had a bowl of cereal (which I brought from home), looked around online, and then promptly went back to sleep. I woke up to the glory of noon. Yes, you heard me. That was about 13 hours of sleep. I needed it.

When I finally decided I was ready to face the day, DS and I took our showers and had a sandwich. We said goodbye to Yioryos, his roommate, who is spending the week visiting family in Greece.

Our first task was to find some contact solution. We tried a small shop that sold things like soap and hair dye, but there was no contact solution. Our big fear reared its ugly head, as we were forced to visit a pharmacy. They keep everything behind a counter, and you have to tell them what you want. This wouldn't have been too bad, but my dictionary has no word for contact solution or eyedrops. Luckily, I could see the boxes, and they carried Renu, the brand I use at home. So, I could just point and say "Renu s'il vous plait" and hope for the best. Success was mine!

DS, loving the movie Pulp Fiction, decided he had to have a Royal Cheese and beer from McDonald's. So we did.


After having lunch, which we decided would be the only time we would visit McD's during our stay, he could me to le Part-Dieu, a three story mall. You should note the translation of this mall, which is "part god". Interesting, no? I found a Disney store here, but was disappointed that none of the products were in French. I also spent some time in a stationary store, where I bought a small sketch book (I forgot my travel book at home), and le Petit Prince pencil sharpener, as I also forgot that at home.

Fountain in the center of le Part Dieu shopping center

The highlight of the mall was a huge art store. This place had everything you could imagine an art store should have. Small tiles and grout for mosaics. White porcelain with porcelain paints. Easels, oil, gouche, pastels, tempera, and acrylics. Teeny tiny 1 inch square to human size canvases. Paper and matching envelopes in different sizes in every color of the rainbow. Stamps, embossing, scrapbooks, crochet, knitting, beading, buttons. The list goes on and on. Everything they carried came in every color imaginable. And to make it better, they were all arranged in clever displays that made them look like attractive rainbows. I could spend a fortune in that store. However, I decided it best to wait and make sure there wasn't something I'd rather have that I can't get in America.

After this, it was going in 5pm, so we decided to come home for dinner. DS is very good at this, and threw together rice, broccoli, and little pieces of potatoes that was just great. Also, at my request, some of the potatoes became fried potatoes, which judging by his reaction when he started to eat, he had never had. I'm happy to report that he loved them. Also, I would like to say that I like French potatoes better than Idaho potatoes.

I'm sorry to report that the weather today was rainy. This kept us from doing a lot of outdoor exploring, which I very much want to do. However, I spent this evening writing down museums and sights that I'd like to see, along with how to get to them. They're all listed out in my handy new sketchbook, which fits into my pocket, so we can hopefully work on that tomorrow. We're also planning a possible trip to Grenoble, where we want to hike in the foothills of the Alps.

So, look forward to more exciting posts in the near future. I leave with a picture of our view tonight, and with that we're going to watch a movie and enjoy each other's company.

You can see some mountains in the background, but they're not the Alps. I think they're a cluster around one called Mont Pilat.