Easter in France

On Friday, I got to meet Kate’s parents which was fun! I love hearing those english accents :). Melissa also came over in the afternoon. We went to church for Good Friday together in Roanne. 

On Saturday, we took a short trip to Charlieu! I had never been there before, but it is where Melissa works and lives. It was nice to walk around and see a new area! Melissa took me to see the Abby, and to this awesome bakery where I got a choux chantilly! Mmmm!

Abbey in Charlieu

Charlieu 

Choux Chantilly

Then, we had lunch in Roanne, and headed off to Lyon! On the way to Lyon, we sat in a train car near a random guy. About 10 minutes before we get to our stop, this guy pulls out his guitar and gives us a little private concert lol. Then, he asks us where we are from and we all chat for a few minutes. The train stops at Lyon Vaise (where we had planned to get off), but as we push the open door button, nothing happens… and a few seconds later the train starts to move again… weird. We didn’t really understand what had just happened and guitar boy wasn’t pleased either because he had planned to get off at Vaise as well. Well, luckily for us the next station was still in Lyon, (not another faraway city) so we just got off their and took the metro/buses to where we needed to go. The guitar boy followed us for a bit because he had to take the metro as well, and he told us that he was going to a friend’s party tonight. We told him that we were headed to a party later on that night as well (wouldn’t it have been weird if we ended up at the same party, haha). 

After getting a bit lost, we found Melissa’s friend Jamel, and then headed off together to find her friend’s Alice’s apartment. Then we dropped off our things, and went out to Best Bagels for dinner. The bagels were soooo good!! Thank you Melissa for introducing me to this place!

Nachos and best bagel!

Saturday night, we headed over to Adam’s place (a former assistant) for his and Melissa’s Bday celebration. It was nice to meet some Lyon assistants, and I had a good time! 

On Sunday, Melissa and I went to the Easter Mass at the Basilique Notre Dame de fourvière. We arrived a bit late, and it was super crowded! We had to stand during the service because it was packed! I was really happy to spend Easter here because the church is really beautiful!

Basilique Notre Dame

After mass!

After mass, we walked back to Alice’s place and made some Easter breakfast. I made hard boiled eggs and bacon. We even had a strongest egg competition just like I usually do back home (where you hit each others’ eggs to see whose doesn't break), and I won :). 

After breakfast, we all chilled for a while, then Melissa and I headed out to explore Le Parc de la Tête d’Or. I love this park! It's huge and has animals. We looked at some animals and took some photos. At one point, we were looking at a monkey exhibit, and this little girl started to yell, “singe” (monkey) to try to get the monkey’s attention, lol. This kid was persistent too, she was going for a few solid minutes, haha. 

Chillin with the turtles

After the park, we walked around cité internationale, which was pretty cool. There were some interesting giant statues there as well as some restaurants. 

Giant penguin

After that, we chilled at Adam’s place, and went with him and his friends to Trivia! I had never been before and it was really fun! It was at an English pub, so half of the workers were British, and there was an english guy reading all of the questions in english (then another guy repeated them in french). I had some fish and chips there for dinner, and our team finished 4th! 

On Monday afternoon, Melissa, Jamel, and I headed to the train station. We were all tired, but satisfied, because we had a great time in Lyon! 

Did I mention that I got a giant Kinder Egg for Easter!? :) 

yesss, this is real life :P

Excited and sad for the last week of work coming up,

Magdalena