Day 18 -- Lille to Lyon

Sunday, 24 September 2023

I walked to the train station for a 9:00 a.m. train to Lyon.

Some of the tracks leading into the Lille train stations

I arrived at the Lyon train station at about noon, which was again too early to check into my hotel. This was the fifth or sixth time I had been to the Lyon train station, but the first time leaving it on foot. The other times were all just train transfers. I walked to Philly Soul -- a "Street food Américaine" place. The cashier (seemed like the owner) was very friendly and enjoyed my French. The Philly sandwich was fantastic. It had the same basics as an American Philly, but it was French bread, and onion confit. 

A Philly from Philly Soul

I then kept walking to the hotel to see if I could leave my bag. Yep. The clerk was very nice, and let me try some French. He said the room was not yet ready, but he would check me in and let me put my bag in the luggage room. When he asked for ID, I showed my my driver license, but either it was unacceptable or he didn't recognize it (I mean, how would a guy in France know if a Nebraska driver license was legit?) and asked to see my passport instead. That's the first time my license wasn't enough. 

Expedia can't handle the French city taxes, so each time I check in to a hotel I need to pay a few euros in tax directly. This time it was about what I had in coins, so I counted them out and gave them to him. As he was putting them in the till, he stopped and gave one back, saying it didn't look right. I took a look and understood what he meant. It was the same diameter as a 10 cent piece, and the same color, and had a big "10" on it, but it was noticeably lighter weight. Looking closer I saw that it was a pre-euro French coin from the early 1980s. So I took it back and gave him a ten-cent piece instead. I have no idea where I got the old coin.

The Rhône and the Hotel Dieu (not my hotel)

I walked around the neighborhood and found the Rugby Village just a few blocks away. I hung around there for about an hour until it was check-in time. Got checked in to the hotel and rested a bit. It was a popular area for both Wales and Australia fans.

The view from my window

I then headed out to the Wales v. Australia match.

...doug