Waking up in Santander, Spain...heading to bed in Lyon, France

Hmmmm....France. We literally only know how to say please, thank you and count to 7 (thanks Ms. Bishop!) in French. And this hotel we're staying in...hmmm...how to put it nicely? I am more than a bit out of my comfort zone. But we're tucked away in bed and need to leave for the train station tomorrow at 6:45...so it's all good. (A couple of glasses of beer tonight helped me put things in perspective.) But let's start at the beginning...Chris woke up this morning and found his watch (which he was sure had stopped) and then woke me up while looking at my phone. He couldn't believe that he actually slept in until 10am! So much for the plan of running and dipping his toes in the Mediterranean Sea...maybe next time! We got the kids moving and headed outdoors...after a quick stop at the bank for more Euros, we hit up the local pastry shop (Jax needs one of these by the way...not a Panera, a good pastry shop!).

After breakfast, we checked out of our hotel and went by taxi to the train station. The cabbie seemed like he was taking us in circles (and driving on some sidewalks), but he got us there lickity-split and took us down some streets in Barcelona we never otherwise would have seen. Pretty neat stuff. We took three trains today - and in both stations that we changed trains, we had about 4 minutes to do so. The first stop the train was right across the platform...but on the second change, we had to go up a flight of stairs, down a flight of stairs and then to the far end of the platform...with all our luggage (and keeping track of those pesky children!)It was a little bit crazy and we had NO idea what anyone was saying. French is a beautiful language...but we literally have no clue. Here are some randoms from the train rides today (6 hours) - beautiful countryside. The kids did great...no issues at all.

When we got to the Lyon train station, Chris started looking for a map...

But the kids and I were looking for a picture opp!

So we walked a quick 1/2 mile to our hotel...which we couldn't get in until someone was leaving. No one from reception was answering...because the office, yep, closed on Sundays. It all sounds pretty funny now, but I was not a happy woman. And you know how the saying goes, "when momma's not happy...". After trying in vain to read any of the signs on the office walls that were all written in French, Chris finally called what looked like a phone number from my cell. After some elevator music, someone answered, speaking in fast French. Chris fumbled for a few minutes and the lady immediately started speaking in English....thank God! She directed us to a safe where we got our key and contract...we'd already been billed and she gave us the wifi password. But then we still had to find our room...which was crazy. Two buildings, odds and evens in different places...OYE!! Finally we got it, only to figure out the air didn't work and, well, it's a bit sketch. So we dropped our luggage and went back to the train station and grabbed a cab to take us to a place that Rick Steves recommended in his France book. On the way there, we got a great view of Lyon. These pictures are from fairly near our restaurant...

Our restaturant was absolutely incredible. It was open faced sandwiches - with tons of yummy cheeses and meats and the kids loved it! The beer was super, super funky (too fruity and spicy for me - but I drank it. Chris got a glass of red wine that he said was excellent.

(Dessert was super yummy too!) After dinner we wandered around the area a little...

I love the picture...I swear I didn't pose them...

Bonsaii!!! Ya Ya - Bonsaii!!

After walking around and trying to locate a taxi, we stopped in a random Best Western and asked them to call us one. While Chris took care of that, the kids occupied themselves by playing some new rock/paper/scisor variation - Uncle Bri...did you come up with this? It's called gorilla, man, slingshot...at least it kept them occupied.

We made it back to our hotel in one piece and everyone is in bed, but I don't think anyone is sleeping. Our interesting set up...

It's hot and noisy, but tomorrow we get to see the Tour de France! Yippee! We're all pretty excited! And although we heard today that two of the three elevators are broken at the Eiffel Tower, we made plans to climb the stairs and are excited about that too. As long as the wifi works, I'll update you tomorrow after le tour! XOXO, Benderz