Chokogou!

Well the Vacances de la Toussaint got off to a rough start. After I got out of classes on Friday it took me only 20 minutes to pack up my bag and get out the door. I made it to Gare de Lyon in plenty of time, successfully navigating the Paris metro, which is actually clean and doesn't have that pee and pollution smell. I was surprised how crowded the train station was, especially after making it through rush hour at Penn Station the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, but I guess it's because they're much more reliant on public transportation here.

I didn't have enough money on my carte bleue (debit card) yet so I had to find a guichet to buy my ticket with cash. After I finally found the line, there was a guy blocking the entrance who asked me where I was going. Once I told him he said that half the trains were canceled and the other half were booked. I stared at him for at least 10 seconds while that sunk in, after which he told me that I could try and buy a ticket for tomorrow. Shocked and not having any idea what to do, I walked away, called my cousin to tell her the bad news and tried to decide whether I should just go back home or try and stay over in Paris. I opted for the former, since I am only an hour away from Paris, and left with my ticket for Saturday afternoon.

Round 2 was a success, and in two hours I was in Lyon. Katie and her roommate Tania met me at the train station and gave me a mini tour before we headed to their apartment so I could drop off my bag. After dinner we did some planning for what we want to do while I'm down her; we decided that Italy and paragliding in Switzerland will have to be postponed because 1) we haven't been paid yet and 2) the weather isn't supposed to be that great this week. Plus there's plenty of stuff to see around here, considering Lyon is in the heart of wine country and is the gastronomic capital of France.

This morning it was raining, so rather than walk around in the rain we decided to go to Chokogou, an annual chocolate exposition that they have at the convention center in Lyon. It was only 7€ to get in, and after one booth it was worth it. They mix some strange things into chocolate here – ginger, rose petals, red pepper, chili pepper, etc. – however, by far the best combination we tasted was lavender chocolate. I don't know if the bars I bought are going to make it home.

The display of one of the vendors.

C'est si bon.

After Chokogou we headed back into the center of town and went to the Musée des Beaux-Arts. While we didn't have a lot of time to spend there, it was free and we did manage to see a lot of stuff.

Ivory carving.

There are a couple of cities around Lyon that we're going to visit in the next couple of days (Beaune, Grenoble, Annecy) in addition to visiting some of Katie's French friends in Marseille...foutrement génial.