John Finishes His Adventure in France

After stopping for our obligatory café and pastry breakfasts, we headed to Gare Part Dieu and John's train departure.  But, guess what!  That train was delayed.  At that point John and David decided it would be a good idea to visit the restroom in the shopping center across the street.  Here one purchases a ticket with a QR code on it, passes the ticket under the reader, and gains admission to the facilities.  However, David and John soon joined other men in line, and none of them could get the reader to work.  So, now the question, "how many men does it take to get the reader to validate their tickets so that they can use the restroom?"  The answer?  One French woman! This lady was able to hold the tickets at just the right distance from the reader to make everything work (and earn the gratitude of all the men in line - not to mention adding a touch humor to the trip).

John's train finally arrived, we exchanged our good-byes, and he embarked on the rest of his adventure.  Here's the photo he sent us of him with a family he met on the train:

John and his latest new friends (on the train).

(John wrote the remainder of this posting.)

From Lyon, I continued south to Nice and treated my beachside hotel as home base for venturing east to Menton and Monaco and then west to Cannes.  My timing put me in Monaco for the first days of the Gran Prix and in Cannes for the second week of the Film Festival.  Lunches at beach clubs along the coast and dinners in restaurant-filled plazas in Nice.  Lots of easy train rides and walking.  And I did catch some sun and get into the Mediterranean!  From Nice it was back to Paris. 

I will want to work on my language skills before my next visit.  I had a basic set of phrases to get things engaged, but I was lost as soon as someone would respond…just too fast for me!  But I never met anyone who wouldn’t try to help me in communications and English is surprisingly common in Paris.  So many details to each little adventure.  So much to bring me back for more. 

Encore une fois merci, Anna and Dave. 

John in Lyon Day 3

Once again, we began the day at our favorite boulangerie.  A VERY pleasant way to start the day!

Our itinerary for Day 3 included more Roman structures – aqueducts! There are Roman aqueducts in many places in France; one of the most spectacular is the Pont du Gard which the Romans built in the first century AD to supply water to what is now the city of Nimes.  (Definitely worth seeing!)  And, there are ruins of Roman aqueducts scattered around Lyon.  Pieces of them are now incorporated into garden walls on Forvière Hill and elsewhere.  Some impressive ruins are in and around Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon, a community about 3 miles from the center of Lyon.  So, we hopped onto the metro, then a bus, and voilà - sections of aqueducts.  Large sections of aqueducts!

Here's a close-up of John
checking out the aqueducts.

And, this photo will give you an
idea of these size of the ruins.

It’s really amazing how many Roman structures still exist!  And, the many ways the local residents incorporate them into their homes, yards, and parking structures.

After we got back into Lyon, it was time to think about…FOOD!  We ended up walking over to a restaurant David and Anna had eaten lunch in and found that their dinner selection was a variety of tapas.  So, we ordered a variety of tapas, a bottle of Champagne, and “made do.”

Then Anna and David ambled back to the apartment and John to his hotel to prepare for his journey through Europe to continue.