October 29th

Mornings. Oh mornings. They should never start out dark, ever. That just throws me off my day without any chance whatsoever. At least I woke up and rolled out. It was not easy. You'd think after all the trips I've taken and all the drives to Canada I would be a master at handling early morning travel. Just like jetlag it kicks me in the ass every time. Fortunately Kate is not a morning person, at least not an annoying one. She was quiet, we both were. Thank goodness for that, because on the train I passed-out on command. Simon and Garfunkel, I thank you once more for "The Boxer"; Its soothing lyrics always enable me to drift into a wonderful sleep that is both light and refreshing. Once in Paris we immediately left for the Bercy train station. Oh yeah, our train to Lyon was not leaving from St. Lazare, that would've been convenient. I did pick up a ScifiNow magazine, awesome read by the way, just in case I need some reading material besides "On the Road." The Lyon train was fine, five hours long, but without much trouble. We did have to switch trains for an unknown reason half way, I'm assuming something was wrong with the first little engine, but that was the only burden. Once in Lyon we hopped metro to our hostel Cool and Bed. What can I say about Cool and Bed, what word describes it? Haven. It was the best hostel in which I have ever stayed, just fantastic. The owners were two young men by the names of Matthew and Pierre. Besides keeping a clean, spacious, friendly, accommodating hostel, they also assisted us with Lyon. Pierre marked, on a free map of Lyon, all the areas to visit or consider seeing. So sweet. Kate and I were definitely in for a good vacation, especially since it wasn't just Kate and me. We made friends. The first to join us was a former "au pair" named Briana from Nova Scotia Canada. She is a sweetheart. I could prattle on about how friendly she is and how much fun she was, but instead I am just going to quote her. Every time she didn't understand something you said or needed clarification, she would say, "pardon me?" It was adorable, no joke. That first night the three of us went to Vieux Lyon for both some exploring points and dinner. We found Place de Baleine, Whale Place, and wandered from there. Eventually we came across a small restaurant called Le Petit Glutton. Its mascot was a pig. I had some salad and a blueberry crepe; both kicked ass. Briana and Kate had a sausage dish that came with an entree and a dessert. Sausage doesn't bode well for me, so I figured a leafy salad would suffice. The conversation was the best part though. Briana told us all about her living in Nice as a French "au pair", essentially a nanny, for two months before deciding that it wasn't for her and that she'd rather travel around Europe until Christmas. After we all had our fill of being little gluttons, we returned to Cool and Bed to make even more friends. There we met a whole slew of people from all over. But, I'm just going to list the ones who mattered. Ahem, there was Andrew a Canadian who was working in Lyon and had been staying at the hostel for five months since it was cheaper than living alone in an apartment. Matthew, another Canadian who was simply travelling around France as a means of living his life. He was a bit mysterious. Last there was Dave the Australian who was on vacation from “au pair-ing” around France. All of us, apart from Andrew who had to work the next morning, decided that we would go to an indoor market that Pierre had suggested and have a picnic at a local park the next day. First night and I've already made some plans with some new friends. Life does just move.