A Trip Around France in a Week

Anne and I went on a mini France tour this past week! We went to Rennes, Strasbourg and Lyon! I have pictures up on facebook of everything we did! Here are a few highlights of the trip!

Rennes:
We took a day trip to a city that is on an island! Mont Saint Michel! There is one main road that we had to climb up in the rain!! If you can imagine slippery, wet rock...then you can imagine me struggling to climp up the steep incline of the street! Thank goodness there were plenty of shops and cafes along the way up to the top! The best part about reaching the top of the mountain was the church! We did an audio tour in French and I understood most of it, which makes me feel great!

Strasbourg:
My friend Matt from UofI met up with us and we did a day trip along "The Wine Road" also called the "Route du Vins"! We went to Riquewihr, one of the best cities along the 100 mile route so we were told! It was beautiful! There was one winery after the other lining the streets. The wines in the Alsace region are mostly white german wines. We tasted Riesling, Gewuvztraminer, Pinot Gris, Muscat and Pinot Noir. My favorite part of the day was the walk from one city to the next. There is a walking trail that goes through the middle of all the vineyards leading from one city to the next! It just so happens that the day we were walking around, was the same day all the vitners were prunning their vines! It was a great experience to watch!

Super Bowl:
In Strasbourg Anne and I were told about a bar we could find the Super Bowl playing. If you're not good at math, the super bowl started around 1AM here. We found our way into a bar called Snookers and with that a private party for the super bowl! We didn't know it was a private party at first, but then some guys asked me how I found out about it? The Strasbourg football team had rented out the bar to watch the game! It was awesome! There was food and a tab at the bar and they loved us! They couldn't believe that two American girls wanted to watch the super bowl, especially since it was so late! That was a game / party I'll never forget!

Hostel in Lyon:
Let me start by saying that I wound up getting my money back for the one night we stayed in this hostel. We were sharing a room with two other girls (8 beds total) who were already sleeping at 11pm when we got back from dinner. We decided to go play cards and meet other people at the bar in the hostel. Right as we were leaving a very old woman came into the room. She started looking for a bed that was open and choose a top bunk that had a light that didn't work. When we came back around 1AM there was note on the door that said, lock does not work. There was no handle or lock on our door! We walked in and the very old woman had all the lights on, the two other poor girls were wide awake and looked very annoyed. So, I went to bed spooning my backpack and purse the whole night thinking I was going to get robbed or killed because the door didn't close. Well, in the middle of the night I was woken up to the very old woman asking someone to turn on the light for her! I'm sorry, but if she couldn't get down her own bunk, then she should have taken a bottom bunk - and one that had a working light! So we were all woken up by her nonsense of having to have the light turned on, only for us to have the pleasure of hearing and smelling her have the runs...if you know what I mean. It was horrible. At this point I wanted the door wide open. The same routine happened in the morning except the toilet was clogged and I almost died of the stentch. I complained and got my money back:) I am proud of that! There was no right for them to take off the lock and handle of a shared room, just because an old woman...who was staying in a YOUTH hostel couldn't unlock the door. I said a prayer for her, me, Anne and the other two girls and got on my way!