Day 0: Escaping the States
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010
Ithaca, NY, New York JFK, London Heathrow
After spending all morning running around frantically getting my financials in order ("No, see, you can't freeze my accounts, I'm leaving for EUROPE tomorrow."), I hopped on the bus for New York City. When the bus pulled into the port authority terminal and the driver started yelling, "Everyone out," I had the interesting realization that I would have to go take a little adventure on the New York City subway system if I wanted to actually get to JFK. Luckily, I am the sort of traveler who leaves myself plenty of extra time, so even after the subway shenanigans (in which I did not get lost at all), I arrived at the airport with enough time for a quick dinner before hopping my overnight flight to London.
Imagine spending all day in a bus, then underground, and finally taking a glass elevator up and up and up until you are above NYC, being greeted by a spectacular sunset. It was a great way to end the US part of my travels.
Day 1: A Night in France
Thursday, March 18th, 2010
Lyon, France
I had a good 6 hour layover in Heathrow, so I took the time to exchange some money, get some real food (and some Cadbury chocolate), and buy another book for the road (Dorian Grey, as I was nearly finished with Please Don't Come Back from the Moon). My second flight was much tinier and much shorter, and I touched down in Lyon, France before I knew it.
Countryside on the way in to France. When the mountains appeared on the horizon, I honestly thought I was flying in to the Swiss Miss hot coco can-- they were huge, perfect white peaked mountains, almost not believable.
I gabbed a bus in to the city center and found our hostel for the night. I asked the receptionist if he spoke English, and when he said no, I dove right in to my first real French conversation. He kept offering to carry my suitcase to my room, and when I kept refusing, he just said, "Fine. You'll see." Turns out the spiral staircase to our 6th floor room was more like climbing a mountain than climbing stairs.
At their widest point, each step was wide enough to fit 3/4 of the length of my shoe. I really thought I would fall and break a few bones at the least.
I met Haley on the bridge over the Rhone River (very romantic), and we walked back to the hostel, where I climbed the stairs for the 4th time that night. With an early morning coming up, we were quick getting ready for bed.
The bridge where I met Haley. Although I would love to see more of Lyon during the day, it sure was beautiful at night, all lit up.
