In Lyon I....

*Navigated myself across the country with minimal help from strangers. It matters not that SNCF is relatively idiot-proof, France is now my bitch.

Lesson#1 Apparently infants no longer get to freeload off their hardworking mothers in these tough financial times, but rather earn their keep as living line-spot holders. I turned around at one point to check for my 12-25 card in my backpack and saw that the mother that had been accompanying the baby carriage (equipt with baby) behind me had vanished. The only thing I could come up with was “ummmm………?” A few minutes later, just as I had come to terms with the fact that I was now going to have to raise this child (I’d picked the name “Gus”) the mother returned and hopped back in line.

Miss you Gus.

*Spent several hours over a couple days in Le Musée des Beaux Arts

Lesson#2 Turns out, armed with a photo student I.D., one can gain not only free admission to nearly all the museums in France, but also free audio guides. Awesome awesome awesome aweseome!

*OWNED at air hockey

Lesson#3 I get really competitive when it comes to air hockey

*Walked around the old old old streets of Lyon all night with my friend Josh from Poitiers

Lesson#4 One should watch the natives to successfully avoid being arrested. I spent the first two days regretting not jumping into the fountain of Lady Liberty next to the Musée des Beaux Arts, which I had held myself back from doing because I thought it would be a bigger legal tangle than I was prepared for. After coming out of the museum one day, I saw a battalion of young people covered in shaving cream dancing in the fountain. I decided I was in the clear. That night, walking with Josh, we sat on the lip of the fountain as I took off my belt and boots feeling my resolve being to eb. After minutes sitting there putting it off, a group of drunk locals serendipitously stumbled by and dared me. The rest of the night squelching around in a wet dress was exactly what the doctor ordered.

*Went to Mass

Lesson#5 All those Disney castles I’ve been seeing here in France actually serve one hell of a function. Every 8^th of September the Cardinal and the Mayor of Lyon come together at this special mass and give talks. Makes for a very crowded church in a 64% Catholic country.

Lesson#6 The 8th of September is also the independence day of Brazil. Coincidence?!?!

Probably.