France Ski Trip Day 1: I'm here, You're where?

Excited to finally have made it to the rendezvous point, I confidently walk out of the gate half expecting to be greeted by some familiar face at the arrivals area....... :(  This does not happen.  No problem, I will just go to the agreed upon rally point in the public center of the airport, by the Pizza Hut Express.  This does not work out either..../fail

Lonely, I'm so lonely...
Photo Credit: Me

Previously, I had gotten word Robo, my friend from Texas, was delayed by a whopping 6 hours.  While his flight would have gotten in earlier than mine, he was now not arriving until 3 hours after.  No worries, my friend Jason is living here in France and he said he would be able to navigate his way here to meet up.  This was not the case.  I paced around aimlessly for about 30 minutes trying to find some free internet or phone to use.  My search was in vain as the Wi-Fi costs money and the airport was very lightly staffed that afternoon.  I broke down and used my credit card on a pay phone (which almost was a very bad idea).  I dialed Jason's cell...

             "Hello?"

             "Hi...Jason?"

             "Hey!"

Phew! I had made contact but there was one slight problem.  Jason had tried to relay a message to me via email to take a tram out to him in the center of Lyon. I, of course, could not get this email.  Jason bit the bullet and paid to ride the shuttle out to me.  We reunited and sat at a restaurant to wait for Robo who wasn't arriving for another 2 hours.  Eventually the 3 of us head to the hotel we were staying at for the night.  We cleaned up and regrouped to enjoy the sights, sounds, and tastes of Lyon, France.  At this point I had slept around 5 hours, this would be the total sleep I got in 48 hours of being awake.  Below is a picture of our close quarters bathroom.

You can brush your teeth, do your business, and shower all at once!
Photo Credit: Me

The hotel had rooms for 1, 2, or 3 people.  The 3 person room (only 60 Euro) had two twin beds with a lofted twin above them.  There was a flat screen TV in the corner and a small desk.  It had very few electrical plugs and we resorted to using the window to regulate the heat rather than the A/C unit.  The beds were very firm and the pillows were very flat...see our room below!

Photo Credit: Me

In order to keep these posts a reasonable length I'll break here and wrap up Day 1 in the next post.  Lyon is a beautiful city and I got a little sampling of it that night.  I also don't want to short change my first experiences there.

Fun Fact: There was a small military detail at the airport and I think they were carrying a FAMAS assault rifle.  I did not want to meet the business end of that weapon.

Fun Fact 2: The pay phone I used put a hold on my account of 6x the cost of the call.  This amounted to over $20 for a 3 minute phone call.  The charge was later adjusted to under $4, thank goodness.

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