This morning I got up early and came down to catch a breakfast, which consisted of a drink of orange juice and a bowl of what can only be described as "assorted serial", but please don't expect any further clarification as I really wont be able to help you, and that is after eating it. I shared it with an early twenties Canadian girl who, yet again, was traveling alone and was travelling and working with WWOOF - which is something like the World Wide Organisation of Organic Farming. It intrigued me as when I was first planning my trip I tried to find places that would let you work as labour to pay your way, but most of the organisations that I tried wanted both your labour AND your money, which was definetly not what I had in mind.
After being unable to use the wifi again this morning, I got so bored that I just picked up the laptop and went for a walk with it down the hill and ended up in a McDonalds { bless em, ay } where they have free wifi access to all customers.
By doing so I was able to post last nights long entry and also read a few of the emails that finally managed to make their way to me. And once I had pretty used up all the battery charge I decided to walk back up the hill, but going a different way, full circle so to speak.
Boy, am I glad that I did, as I found that via the other way you go right past a Gaelic Amphitheatre and a Roman museum, which for any of you who might want to visit is well worth it and also free entry to the public on Thursdays :o)
The OTHER thing that I noticed was that there was not only a bus route that went near the hostel but even better a Funicular that would take you almost right to the door and the walk from the station was downhill not up. That means that you can walk down the hill to the metro station to go into town and then walk down from the Funicular station on the way back, never getting a hernia or having to pretend your in training to join the army. Why they never said that on their website or their confirmation email I have no idea.
I have also no idea why then have got no leaflets of brochures about the Roman museum or Amphitheatre just up the hill, as having been around Lyon quite a bit it seems the only reason why anyone would ever need to go near that hill, unless they were visiting their dearly departed in the crematorium.
Thus it was that I spent this morning in the museum and playing about on the stage and then in the early afternoon I decided to go and visit the park, which also housed a miniature zoo, which killed two birds with one stone and means that I can have a rest up tomorrow having successfully crossed off just about everything on the list to do in Lyon. The botanical gardens and zoo are also free to the public and so I was doing a great job of not spending any money and getting a bit back on track.
It is a shame that the whole place seems to close early every day, as I would have murdered a pizza and chips, but after 3pm the only thing that you could get before things started to reopen at 7pm was a baguette and a soft drink. EU $3 for a small baguette is not that bad value, but I was getting very bored of living off sandwiches and I am told that bread is actually bad for you if you eat too much of it!
To kill off the rest of the day, I watched another movie { no sweeties this time, pity the film was dubbed into French though ... only country that seems to do this for every film release ! } and then went for a few games of bowling. As per usual it was cheaper during the day, but still EU $17 for 3 games and a soft drink, including shoe hire, isn't that bad either, just be careful not to try and take the piss as just cos the lights are on the meter is still running so if you play a forth game they will still expect you to pay for it afterwards.
The film was the new Jacky Chan and Jet Li film but being in French totally ruined it, as although the story itself was pretty straight forward, there is always plenty of jokes that just never come across well in translated versions. The film was fun, but too much Hollywood input stopped it being great, as you could tell the ending before almost the opening credits has finished rolling up.
I found out that I really am that bad at Bowling, as I barely made 100 and I got more complete misses than I did strikes and spares put together. The thing that really messed it up for me, was that even here they food stopped being prepared at 3pm onward and also the score TV screens don't have funny little cartoon animations to tell you what you need to get with your second ball or help celebrate you getting a spare or strike. Like everything else, it is better in a group and my thumbs and arm was sore by the end of the third game, so why I bothered to play a forth I'm not quite sure.
I am not sure what time the Funicular stops running, but thankfully it was still running at 9pm and so it was a doddle to get back to the hostel, pity the wifi still isn't working so this wont get sent out till tomorrow now. I am not sure what else I can do tomorrow, as I have run out of money, inspiration and listening to people speaking in French, but I have only one more day in this hostel and in Lyon and then I am in Toulouse and in a hotel for a change, so its privacy, working wifi and the chance to leave my stuff out, plus do another load of linen.
I don't know why, but its for some reason hostels seem to think that what guests want is rock and alternative music blaring out at full volume during the night in the common rooms, though why I have no idea as personally I came here to socialise and relax and not try to practice head banging. I really feel as though hostel workers are like DJ's ... with a few too many screws loose up there somewhere.
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