Lyon

A few general comments before the Lyon post:
1. It has been brought to my attention that The Purple Rhino appears to be pink. While you may think he is pink through perception, I know he is Purple through belief.

2. I just finished my final project for my class on the Midi: a video on Ratatouille. If you want to know anything about this typically southern French dish ask someone else because Im tired of talking about it. Kidding.

3.My tennis shoes just (slightly) broke. Im hesitant to tell Annick in fear that she might send me into the garden with a bottle of mustard and figs.

4. I'll be darned if my jeans are as good as new

This Saturday I went to Lyon by myself. 4am Wake up. 6:15 Leave Montpellier. 8:45 change trains in Avignon. 10:16 Arrive in Lyon.
I met a girl through Debbie who did the UGA en France last year and who lives in Lyon now. She did a Spring semester at University of Lyon III, the very program I went to check out. She was gracious enough to show me around and invite me to dinner at her apartment with her French boyfriend. We walked through the old city (its the stereotypical French city idea), walked around the University (literally, it was closed). Seeing at it was about 37C (99F) with no wind, we returned to the apartment for conversation and cold drinks.
I didnt really like Lyon, dispite being the 3rd biggest city in France (after Paris and Marseilles) it seemed kinda dead. Maybe it was the heat, but I didnt leave Lyon didnt leave Lyon dying to go back as I expect I will Montpellier. Speaking of leaving Lyon....
My return train was a TGV with a change in Valence. 2 hours. The train to Valence was running late so I would have missed my connection. I told the SNCF guys this, and they said no problem. They gave me a 1st class ticket for the direct train (there were no 2nd class so that's why i didnt buy one originally). Train 5020 leaving from tracks J...IN 3 MINUTES. I sprint to the tracks and get on just as the doors are closing. I find my first class seat and send a celebratory test just as I hear the announcement "Welcome aboard Train 5021 direct to Marseilles France." This train was running late and the correct train was behind it on track J. Due to technical difficulty, the train couldnt use the TGV tracks: bad news we werent going as fast, good news the train was stopping before Marseilles. I get escorted off the train at the first stop: Valence. Because we wernt on TGV tracks, I found myself in Valence TER (two completely different train stations) after a 5 minute arguing match with the Controller (on the bright side GREAT french practice) I got a bus ticket to Valence TGV. 30 minutes on the bus playing the most grateing Romanian Techno imaginable and I arrived at Valence TGV, secured a ticket for the next train to Montpellier. Train pulls up, "where does this train go?" "montpellier". Sucre! Get on the train. Controller walks up, I give him my ticket. "Sir, you dont have the right to be on this train." "Excuse me?" All the trains were running late because of the aforementioned TGV track problem. I had actually caught the train before the one I got the ticket for. Luckily the train was empty, the controller was reasonable, and the first stop was Montpellier. I pull into Montpellier at 11:35. 3 hours behind schedule.
My favorite part of this whole thing: I my train reservation upfront and planned on using a day on my eurorail pass. However, throughout this whole ordeal, they didnt check my Euro-rail pass and thus I didnt loose the day. Total cost of the whole day: 6 euro. Im pretty sure I got more than 6 euro worth of tickets (7 in total).

I know that was a giant confusing mess. Let me know if anything need clarification.

Tomorrow is Bastille Day (French Independence day), no class, only frivolity and fireworks.