Working Backwards: Lyon

Welcome Back...to me! So half of my absence is not my fault, the internet has been down over here for a while and we just barely got up and running again. The other half...well...laziness :)

I have so many things to catch everybody up on! But because I've gotten to do so many cool things lately, I'm going to start with the most recent/fresh in my memory and move backwards. I hope nobody minds :)

This past weekend I went to Lyon to finally visit Mallory!! I was supposed to leave Saturday night (the 30th) around 7:15, and get there just in time for a round of drinks with Mal. My host mom, however, had to run an errand before dropping me off at the train station and I ended up missing my train :/ Marjorie felt so bad she bought me the first ticket for Sunday morning - very sweet of her considering that Sunday train tickets are much more expensive than Saturday tickets (although any ticket would have been expensive since the past 2 weeks have been vacation here in France for a national holiday). So I was on the train bright and early Sunday morning! I arrived in Lyon and Mallory picked me up from the train station.

First stop: Starbucks. Now in case you don't know this about me, I love my coffee - and I especially love my Starbucks. Ask any barista in my local area back home, since most know me by name. In fact, I love my coffee so much that it started giving me tummy aches and making me shaky. Turns out that third latte isn't always a good idea...Anyways, I decided to give it up and I haven't had any coffee since I got to France, which has been rough. I finally caved on the way home from my weekend in Nice, but I still hadn't had that familiar taste of a Starbucks iced soy chai latte. So that was exactly what I did when I got into Lyon, which was a miracle considering that EVERYTHING in France is closed on Sundays. And I do mean, everything. Grocery stores, pharmacies, restaurants, retail stores, you name it - it's closed. Except, of course, good ol' American Starbucks. It was magical.

From there, we went back to Mallory's apartment (which is super cute, by the way) and relaxed for a bit. We made some pasta, sautéed some veggies, and watched some Modern Family for the better part of the afternoon (did I mention everything is closed on Sundays??). Afterwards, we got dressed and ready for our night out. Halloween isn't something that is really celebrated in France...I mean, there are a few people who dress up...but in comparison to the states - it's NOTHING. But just because France doesn't know how to do Halloween right, doesn't mean me and Mallory don't! We layered every piece of black clothing we had (it's pretty chilly in Lyon), donned some kitty ears, busted out the eyeliner, and voilà - black cats.

We took the metro to a different part of town, had an amazing dinner at an adorable french restaurant, and then headed to Mal's favorite Irish pub - the St. James. We weren't sure if it was even going to be open, but since Halloween is, after all, an Irish holiday to begin with, it was alive and PACKED with festive people. Me and Mal had a blast, so much in fact, that we accidentally missed our last metro and had to walk home 3 miles in the rain...hehehe whoops! Worth it.

The next day, we did some shopping, and then walked around all of Lyon. Mal took me to the Fourviere Cathedral which was absolutely STUNNING! Not only was the church itself beautiful, but it's also situated on top of a hill which overlooks the entire city. The inside was amazing too, but I couldn't take any pictures because mass was going on. Afterwards, we headed to the Roman ruins that are also in Lyon, below the cathedral. Now this was amazing to me for 2 reasons:

1) Roman ruins. That one is pretty self explanatory. Anything that has managed to make it since 57 BC is pretty darn impressive in my book.

2) THE TREES WERE ORANGE, YELLOW, AND RED!! Sometimes all at the same time!! Ok ok...I'm not crazy. I am fully aware that real fall trees exist in cities other than Los Angeles. But growing up in a tiny green coastal town my whole life, you don't see much of it. Especially like this. I was very impressed.

So autumn colors + Roman ruins = lots of pictures...and me taking a leaf home with me :)

That night we went back to the St. James with some of Mallory's friends and had an amazing time. It was fun meeting new people in a different city.

Tuesday morning I went home for work that afternoon, and now here I am! OH also, I got a haircut today, but I'll post pictures of that later (don't worry, it's just my bangs :] ).

And tomorrow, my Nice post...