The receptionist at our hostel had a real attitude, and the bartender was the most flamboyent human being I have ever seen. He even wore a belly shirt one night and danced his way around the building instead of walking. This was probably the most akward place/time we have spent anywhere so far. We were in transition the entire time. The hostel wasn´t that hospitible for people to just sit and relax and the staff was hard to put up with.
Ex. I was sitting in the lobby (which keep in mind is filled with cafeteria tables and horribly uncomfortable) trying to journal. It was only 8:30, but the lobby/club was rocking. There were strobe lights and a disco ball, and some lights that would randomly blind you with different colors every now and again. It was just me and the bartender. I got tired of the unexpected shots of light in my face and the incessent, horrible 80´s music that never made it´s way out of Europe. So I went up to him and asked him to turn off the strobe light. He gave me a weird look and pulled a step ladder out for him to reach the off switch. He didn´t like me from there on out.
On day we decided to take a train to a town called Chamonix at the base of Mont Blanc. We wanted to hike around and explore the French alps while we were there. The town was a 3 hour train ride away but we had our Eurail passes so that didn´t mater.
The views from the train were great, almost like hiking, but without the joy of knowing that few people have ever seen this territory. We walked around Chamonix in the snow, the first snow of the season. We had pizza and tried to stay warm by frequenting the over-inflated clothing stores in the village.
We went back to the train station only to realize that we had missed the last train to Lyon by 1 min. My watch is set to Switzerland´s train station time, the correct time. That train station was 3 min fast, and the train was 2 min late. So we went to the info guy and he said there was no way to get to Lyon, where our pre-paid bed was that night. We have learned, that at times like this you need to really push people into helping you. So we started pushing. We finally got it out of him, our way to get back to Lyon.
So we got on the correct train heading to Geneva, Switzerland (Geneva is a French collinized city in SW), where we would have a connection to Lyon. No problem. When got to Geneva, we went to the info lady to ask where the train was because it wasn´t where it should have been. She also had the French attitude the Nicolas told us about and started talking to us with a real attitude. I told her to ¨Calm down!¨ (I think I am part French) She said, ¨Am I speaking crazy English?¨ I said, ¨Yes¨. She then told us that we needed to catch a bus to Lyon, not a train. Then the guy working next to her, with deciet in his heart said something to her in French, really fast. She then laugh and turned back to us. She said, go straight for 500 meters on the main road outside. 500 meters... Okay. That is about a quarter of a mile in some direction where her hand was pointing and by that time we only had 10 min. So we started running as usual.
We didn´t see a bus stop for a really long time, and we only had 4 min left before it left. So we started running back to the Train station taking the back roads to scan for the bus. We ran all the way back to the station and right outside the Main back doors of the station there was a bus. I decided to ask the driver where he was going. He then blew the smoke out of his lungs and said ¨Lyon¨. Just what we were looking for. So we got on and quietly cused out the lady at the info box.
We got home from our French Alps adventure at 11 pm and decided never to take a train for leisure again.
We wanted a night train to Barcelona from Lyon but it didn´t exist so we went to Montpellier in the evening and left the next afternoon for Barcelona. It is definily a livable place and very international and filled with college students. We would have stayed longer if our schedual allowed. The day we headed out to Barcelona I caught a cold and it was just a rough day.
In Montpellier. David pointing to the business on the street that so perfectly depicted how we were feeling that day.
Our hostel in Lyon was right below this magnificent church.
In Charmonix, enjoying the only snow that we will see until Winter ´08 back home. This place was a really cute resort town.
We spent one late morning at a park infront of that huge church on the hill over looking Lyon. We made REAL mimosas with oranges and our beloved juicer and REAL French Chanmpagne. Eveyone was jealous!
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1 comment:
You write very well.
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