November 1st

Happy morning, though not really. I was so sad to be leaving Cool and Bed and all my new friends in Lyon. Seriously what an amazing city. Sigh, I'm glad that the morning was amazing too, because later on, well you'll find out. For now the morning/afternoon was when Kate and I had lunch with Oliver and his parents. First off, they are two of the most charming people that I have ever met. Yes I am gushing, but that's fine I reason to. His mother made a fantastic meal that consisted of roasted potatoes, steak, salad, gravy, and fresh bread. Drool, so delicious. Kate and I were urged to eat our fill, I believe we did rather well. Dessert was little pastry cakes with fancy decorations. Heh, I'm polite when I'm a guest, especially a guest at the home of the parents of the boy that I hosted years ago. I ate the cake. Later on it turned out to be a lie, but I dealt the aftermath. At the time I was a happy girl enjoying a meal with kind people. A meal that was in French by the way. Oliver's parents don't speak English, thus Kate and I had to speak in French. Again, we didn't do that poorly. It was a relaxing meal with conversation and good eats, besides the cakes. It ended with Oliver escorting us to the metro, after he called me a turtle, and exchanging some hugs. That was a nice morning. Why did the nice stop there? Three bad things happened after Oliver left, and none of them involved cake. First, Kate's boots broke. Her only pair of waterproof boots broke in a shoe store. Ironic, yes. Good, no. Fortunately she bought some shoes that were on sale, but it wasn't a step in the right direction. Pun. Second, our train broke. In the middle of France our supposedly very fast TGV train that was due to arrive in Paris at 8:10 pm, stopped. We later learned that some people had stolen copper cogs from the tracks and that it bumped the train out of alignment. Thanks guys, you stole a cheap metal with consequences that could have killed us! Good thing Death is on my Christmas list, though I seem to have lost Karma's address. Hmmm that might explain why were stuck on the train for seven hours without food. We did eat some snacks in the Lyon station beforehand, but nothing that hardy. We thought that we'd be in Paris around eight, thus we didn't plan on eating a huge meal before the train. I wish that we had. The other passengers seemed to have a jolly ole time smoking in the various cars. It was like a mushroom cloud decided to squirm its way in, just grey smoke everywhere. There were two announcements asking people to stop smoking. Psh like an order from the train conductor matters. Well after six hours we finally started moving and make it into Paris at 1:30 am. Seven hours on a broken down train with no food. Third thing, our hostel. Remember Blue Planet from the original trip to Paris back in September? Well that's where we stayed. Guess what was ten times worse this time around. If your answer was bacon than no you're just hungry, it was Blue Planet! And damnit did it suck. Not only were the guys bigger jackasses this time, they had no sympathy for our situation. We were stuck in a dusty room on the 5th floor with a door that didn't lock. Screw it, I'm too tired to care. Sleep, now. Saddest thing, this mattress is comfier than the one in my dorm.