Zürich, Lyon

I arrived in Zürich at about 7pm, though everything was still light and most shops were open. I went to Zurich HB (train station I’d have to get to the next day) and found a hostel nearby, though not without the help of a local whose accent was the kind of thing you’d hear on Deutcsche-Welle. Perfect, but at the same time strange.

Anyway, after lugging my...luggage up about 8 flights of narrow stairs, I got to my room then went for an explore around downtown Zürich. Highlights included MILLIONS (literally) of restaurants and cafés buzzing with customers, a fast food store that seemed to serve only wurst und bier and the spectacular Grossmünster cathedral. Shortly after discovering that my phone seems to automatically have global roaming and sending a few texts, I retired to the hostel to sleep.

The next day I woke and walked back to Zürich HB to get my train to Lyon. Sitting next to me was a Canadian dude called Alex that was doing a uni exchange in Fribourg, Switzerland. We had a good conversation about our homelands, uni, travelling, etc., and he informed me that in Canada they don’t have pre-mixed drinks. WHAT THE HELL?!?!?! He informed me that he was gonna take the idea back to Canada with him to “make some bucks”. Alex, if you’re anything like me and you google your name and things you do to see if anyone mentions you in a travel blog, I wish you every success with it haha.

I arrived in Lyon that afternoon and it was HOT. The heat and humidity, combined with my total lack of any idea of what I should do made me a frustrated Joel. I checked into the Hotel Ibis (sorry mum, I’ll pay you back haha), dropped off all of my luggage and went for a walk around the shopping centre nearby. During this walk I had the first Orangina of my trip. My god I love that drink. It was soon time for zzzzzz.

The next morning I woke at the thoroughly ungodly hour of 4am. Jet lag is awful. I showered (much-needed, incidentally) and went exploring. On my travels I bought Orangina #2 and a sandwich multicéréales jardinière, which is French for “amazingly good sandwich”. I got some info re: hostels and took the bus to Vieux Lyon, which is as old and beautiful as it sounds. From there I got the funicular (cross between a cable car and a train, I guess you’d call it) to Minimes, where the hostel is located. A quick walk (again aided by the advice of a local) brought me to the youth hostel. As I write this I’m enjoying a cheap-as-chips Kronenbourg and looking over the entire city from the hostel’s terrace. The view is AMAZING, so I’ll just upload some photos when I get the chance.

Getting around France so far has proven daunting, but not so bad once you actually knuckle down and DO something. Additionally, my French has already been given a pretty good workout, so I predict that I will be speaking it like a pro within days/weeks. Yay!

Tl:dr? Zurich was rad, Lyon was hard at the beginning, now I’m at a fantastic hostel in Lyon and will be here until I can move into the student residence on the 31st of August. Linguistically, I am going well  . Missing Australia and the people I love a whole lot, though.