UN GRAND WEEK END À LYON !

Bonjour!!! Well this weekend mi Vida Erasmus led me to Lyon, the second largest city in France after Paris. It’s located in the central-east region of the country in the Rhône-Alpes region, and is only an hour and 20 minute flight from Madrid. I was there visiting Sarah and Lizi who are on their Year Abroad, and it was a great trip for my first ever time in France! yep- you heard it right- I've never been to France before! It's really strange as it would seem like an obvious place to visit given its proximity to the UK! I booked my flights back in September, and it has seemed like a long way off for weeks.... But the time soon crept up!

I left Salamanca on Thursday morning on the 7am Avanzabus to Madrid, and then 2 and a bit hours later (it felt like a quick journey seeing as I was asleep) I arrived at Madrid Barajas airport! I had 2 hours free time after going through airport security, so once I found my gate I had some much needed me-time and read the Marie Claire magazine that Kat gave me whilst she was in Salamanca! (Thank you Kat!- I had been missing my English glossy mags!) At 12.10 we started boarding, and were soon flying north towards France! I don't really remember much of the flight either as I think I must have been asleep, so before I knew it, we had landed in Lyon! Hurrahhhh!

The airport was so small, and therefore not easy to get lost! They didn't even have a passport control!- is that allowed? I went for a wander to try and find the Rhône express which is a tram running from the airport to Part-Dieu. Thanks to the excellent signposting, I managed to find the station, and the tram was just about to leave so I ran and managed to get on! The journey was about half an hour, and went through some countryside and some outer housing villages before arriving at Part-Dieu central station. I was a bit disorientated when getting off the tram as I had no idea which direction to go in! But luckily I found a map and walked to the Part-Dieu shopping centre which was incredible! It was huge, and had such a new clean feeling to it! And in the centre there was a fountain with lots of seating around the edges. After having a wander around the shops whilst I was waiting for Lizi to come and meet me, I sat down near the fountain and just relaxed.... And then suddenly all the lights went down and the fountains started bubbling and all these difference colour lights came on and illuminated the fountain! And the water started jumping and dancing with all the lighting effects! it really was like a show as everyone stopped what they were doing to come closer to the fountain and watch the display! It was definitely the most posh shopping centre I've ever seen any way! A few minutes later Lizi came to find me and we had a good old gossip whilst having a bite to eat! And then we had to go as she and Sarah had to go to their Beginners Portuguese class at Uni, so I went along too! They are both at Lyon 3 University (there are 3 universities in Lyon) and to me it looked like a hospital it was that clean! It was like a blooming labyrinth as well- you'd easily get lost in there! But we eventually made it to this classroom and sat down! I found an open wifi network, so quite happily settled down on my iPhone using the Internet whilst Sarah and Lizi attempted their Portuguese worksheets! To be honest the class was a bit of a joke really as the teacher didn't really teach, and just gave out the worksheets and then wrote a few verb conjugations on the board! He did give me a few dodgy looks though as I wasn't even hiding the fact I was using my iPhone! For once it was nice to be in a class where I didn't have to pay any attention and not worry!

Part-Dieu shopping center

The fountain display! IT WAS AMAZING!!!!

We then headed back to Lizi's residence where she shares a flat with Sophie Hurst! It' a nice little flat, but quite small though! The three of us got ready to go and meet Sarah again, Lizzie Connell, Charlotte Sullivan and also Bridgette, their Australian friend and also Morgan who is Laurie's boyfriend! He lives in Lyon of course, and wanted to see me whilst I was visiting! We all went to a bar and had a few drinks and Lizi and Sophie enjoyed some French speaking practice with Morgan, and happily translated for us! I really need to learn French.... Especially now I have 2 French friends- Laurie & Morgan, that's you two! We then decided to have an early night, but before going to sleep, Lizi introduced me to her French neighbour who is a student called Simon. He was very friendly, but incredibly drunk or stoned..... One of the two.... or maybe both! Nice guy through! 

Morgan, Me, Lizzie, Sarah, Bridgette, Charlotte, Sophie, Lizi in the bar

Bartholdi Fountain at the Place des Terreaux (square)

Sarah, Lizi and Me in Bellecour Square

Lizi, Morgan and Sarah!

Me and a lion :) (This one is for you Gemma!!!)

Friday morning we slept in until midday, and then met up with Sarah and Morgan in Place Bellecour (Bellecour square) which is like their Plaza Mayor, and is interestingly the third largest public square in France! We then went for a wander around the city, and climbed up to the highest point in Lyon which is called Fourvière! We actually decided to walk up instead of getting the Funicular tram, which took 20 minutes or so and was incredibly exhausting, but the view was certainly worth it when we reached the top! It was incredible as you could see a panoramic view of the whole city! We then went and had a look at the basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière which is at the top. None of us could be bothered to walk back down again after the effort to walk up- so we got on the funicular tram, and in no time we were down in Vieux Lyon (Old Lyon) which is the original medieval city! The old part was incredible- exactly how I imagined France to be like! There were narrow cobbled streets, little plazas and many boutique shops and cafes, and it was hustling and bustling with people! The four of us were so hungry after the climb to Fourvière, so we stopped at a little bakery which did a meal deal of a baguette, a drink and a dessert for €5! Bargain eh- and so much better than a Boots meal deal! ;) mine was goats cheese and salad, and for dessert I had a pineapple flan! So yummy! And we ate whilst sitting on these church steps in one of the little squares, oh how French!

The panoramic view of Lyon!

The Basilica

Vieux Lyon

The yummy bakery!

Morgan then took us back to his pad for a quick drink before heading back to Lizi and Sophie's to get ready for the evening! Sarah, Lizi, Morgan and I then went to Lizi's neighbours place where there was a house party with lots of French and Spanish people, as well as a Mexican guy too! The house party was really good though, and I managed to meet lots of Spanish people who were on Erasmus in Lyon! We all played 'Never have I ever' in French, which is 'Je n'ai jamais' and I even managed to take part in French (Thanks to Lizi and Sarah's wonderful translation abilities!). After the house party we went by tube to a club on a boat called Ayer's Rock on the river Rhône! It was like a long bar with a dance floor at the end, and we paid €8 for our entry including a drink, which isn't too bad considering alcoholic drinks are easily €7 here! We all went for sex on the beach cocktails, and it was definitely the nicest sex on the beach cocktail I've ever had! It was a good night though, and we all had fun dancing, then Simon and his mates came along (completely trashed of course) Overall a good night, and luckily I didn't drink too much, so no hangover on Saturday morning ready for a full day of sight-seeing!

Simon, Me and Sarah!

Me, Sarah and Morgan!

Sarah and her french friends!

Me and Simon!

Me, Sarah and our new spanish friends! (and the guy is Mexican!!!)

Morgan, Sarah, Me and an unknown French guy! :P

Me, Morgan, Lizi and Pierre

THE CLUB ON THE BOAT!!!!!!!!!

We finally moved out of bed around midday again on Saturday, and were craving Mc Donald's after the night before! So we hopped on a metro, and went to a McDonalds in the centre! I was really impressed as they had my favourite wrap meal, but with goats cheese in the middle for vegetarians! Normally I have to get the chicken, bacon, salad and cheese one, then take out the chicken and bacon which kind of defeats the point of the wrap! But this time I was actually able to enjoy it without dismantling it first! It was so yummy too- I hope they introduce it into Spanish McDonald's for those hung-over days, or when I can't be bothered to cook! We then took our MaccyD's down to the Rhône river, and munched away whilst enjoying the fantastic view! We then went for a wander around the centre, and over to Parc de la Tête d'Or, which is an urban park in central Lyon. I also found out that it is the largest urban park in France, and as a plus it has a free zoo in the middle! For a free zoo it was actually pretty good, and they had all kinds of animals- my favourites being the leopard, giraffes and the porcupines! Sarah definitely had a crush on the leopard; she couldn't stop saying how gorgeous his coat was!!! To be honest, he was a beauty! The park was really picturesque though, especially now all the trees are those autumnal colours and the leaves are starting to fall! We had a nice afternoon wandering around and looking at the animals! We got really close to a pelican as well, and he was pecking at people's cameras and phones as they tried to take close-up photos of him! 

MaccyD's by the river...... oh how French!

The river Rhône!

Sarah & Lizi in the park!

The zoo!

Porcupineyyyyyyy!

The pelican!

Beautiful view :)

The cute deer!

We were pretty tired by late afternoon so decided to go back to the flat to relax for a few hours before heading out in the evening! Lizi started to feel unwell and we think she was coming down with a cold, so around 7, Sophie and I met Sarah on the tram to go to Fourvière again as they wanted me to see it in the night-time! We got on the funicular tram this time to go up as none of us could be bothered to walk! They were right though, the view at night of the city was incredible. You could see for miles! And it all looked so pretty with all of the city lights. I tried to capture the panoramic view with my camera, but my photos honestly don't do it justice. You have to go there to see it for yourself. We then went for a walk around Vieux Lyon again, as like Fourvière, it has an entirely different feel at night-time! It was buzzing with people and all the lights made it look so pretty! We were starving by late evening, so went to go to a pizzeria in the centre of Vieux Lyon, but it was jammed and they had a 40 minute wait! So we decided to go in hunt for somewhere else to eat! The girls suggested another pizzeria (Pizza Pino) they knew of right next to Bellecour square, so we walked over there only to find a queue to get in! Luckily we only had to wait 20 minutes or so and we were inside ordering pizzas! (Pizzas in France?.... Shouldn't we have eaten frogs’ legs and snails or something!?- I thought the pizza munching wouldn't come until semester 2 in Pavia!!!) Sarah ordered her statement margarita and Sophie had a really yummy looking pizza with onions, peppers, artichokes and roasted chicken! I went for a goat’s cheese one! The only problem was that when they brought them over, mine wasn't the right one as it was covered with bacon and a runny egg in the middle! It’s okay though as they changed it really quickly! After our lovely meal we headed back to the flat and Sophie and I had a bit of a Sex and the City box-set session as Lizi was relaxing in bed still feeling a bit under the weather! Then around 12.30 I finally went to sleep! 

The Funicular tram

Sarah and Me on the tram!

The Basilica at night!

Panoramic view of Lyon at night

Sarah, Me and Sophie

Vieux Lyon at night

Vieux Lyon

The street full of restaurants

and more restaurants ........

PIZZA PINO!!!!

Yesterday morning I had to wake up at 6.30 to get ready to meet Sarah at 7.30 as she offered to take me back to Part-Dieu station to catch the Rhône Express! The sunrise was incredible...... (one good thing about getting up so early I suppose!) I had an hour or so to work out where to go, and soon found terminal 3 and my gate. The flight was on-time, and I just slept again on the plane! I then went to get my coach back to Sala! So here I am back in Salamanca! There's just over 5 weeks left here now until Christmas, and then only 3 weeks in January! I'm looking forward to my semester 2 in Pavia- Italy so much, but I don't want my time in Salamanca to end. You only get one Vida Erasmus I guess..... I need to make the most of it as before I realise it'll be September 2012 and I'll have Post-Erasmus syndrome (it's actually a form of depression experienced by nearly all students returning back to their home countries after their year abroad) and a load of work work work for final year accompanied by stress. What a depressing thought...... Can't we be on Erasmus forever? :)