We didn’t get up quite as early as we had intended.. Mom definitely made it up and into the shower before I even opened my eyes. We got ready, packed, and checked out. Right beside the train station we stopped to eat breakfast. It wasn’t the quickest service, but the eggs were more cooked so that was a blessing! Haha
We got on the subway to take us to the main train station, we were there with 40 minutes to spare-and then promptly spent that 40 minutes walking in circles, up and then back down escalators, in all the wrong directions attempting to find the spot we were supposed to be in for our train to Lyon. I asked at least 5-6 different people working there where to go, some sent us up, some sent us down, finally one man took the time to explain in steps where to go..
But by then we had already missed our train, but seriously like 2 minutes. I talked on the phone with Morgana and Alex seeing if they could help me figure out what to do.. and thank goodness, because they explained how to get a new ticket for a train leaving in 15 minutes, and where to walk to get on said train. Mom had I hadn’t even sat our butts in our seats when the train started moving! And if Alex wasn’t able to tell us which platform the train was on, we’d have missed that train, too, because no where on the ticket does it say where it is! Apparently when it shows up on a big monitor, you have minutes to get to the platform. I guess if that’s our one snag, it wasn’t too terrible.. only a €104 mishap and wasting 30 minutes of Alex and Morgana’s time.. I still feel bad about that.
The train ride was 2 hours long and it went so fast that when we came to a stop, we got off, assuming we were supposed to. I did notice some other people not moving yet, but thought nothing of it. Come to find out we got off on the stop right before ours.. and Morgana and Alex were standing on the platform of the next stop waiting for us! Yikes. These French trains are just not for me, and fingers crossed that the Italian ones are slightly easier to navigate!
Once I had Morgana on the phone and she figured out what we did, they got back in their car and drove to the train station we were at and came in to get us. I’m sure they were hating us, I wouldn’t blame them a bit! I think if I had a better understanding of the French words I’d do better, but honestly it all looks like gibberish to me. I’m considering taking lessons in more languages because I hate feeling so useless.
Anywho, they collected us and we said our hellos, then quickly got the heck out of the chaos that is a French train station! Alex drove us to a cute neighboring town for us to walk around and explore. It was adorable, not crowded, and just what we needed after a day of feeling like our heads were going to pop off. We had ice cream at the best little place with over 95 flavors, and then some beer at their favorite bar in this area. It was truly perfect.
Once it started to get a bit late into the afternoon, we loaded up in their car and Alex dropped us off at their home, which is stunning and exactly what you’d picture a perfect French house with cool shutters and an incredible garden to look like.. and then he went to pick up their puppy from a dog sitter.
Morgana gave us the tour of her lovely home, she had made us each a room with a queen bed, by far the best and most spacious accommodations yet.. and definitely the most beautiful. We got to meet her older dog, Odin, who is the biggest floof there ever was, but is slow to warm up to new people, and we met their 3 kitties, one which is a Main Coon and absolutely gorgeous.
We chatted and caught up and I made it a personal mission to get to love on Odin (it didn’t take long at all, but I wanted to squeeze him and never let go, and that didn’t get to happen, but pets and kisses did-I’ll take what I can get). Alex came back with the puppy, Saku, who unlike Odin, was immediately happy to get all the loves and squeezes me kisses. Man, I love dogs.
Morgana prepared a traditional French meal for us, on a raclette.. im probably saying that wrong.. but you have potatoes and hams/meats on your plate, you melt the cheese in this dish thing and then pour it over your potatoes and meats and dig in.. while you’re eating that bit, you put on another slice of cheese to melt.. like everyone has their own little pan to melt their own cheese on.. it was awesome! And so very very filling!
We hung out and talked and played with the pups. It was a fantastic day. Sometime after it got dark mom reminded me that I hadn’t done my run yet.. so, I did a mile around their neighborhood.. there were several hills and with it being dark and unfamiliar, when I got to a square shaped cul de sac I ran around it like 5-6 times to make sure my mile wouldn’t be up a mountainous climb.. haha
When I got back, we stayed up talking a bit more before we all decided to crash. I was so exhausted from the day and knew I’d be sleeping so well in that big comfy bed that I honestly couldn’t stop thinking about it. Laying here now, it’s so hard to even keep writing because i just want to curl into a ball and sleeeeeeeeeep.
Which is exactly what I think I’ll do now. Goodnight!