Vyvacious

*Transcribed from my written journal

Thursday, June 28th
1:00am (Lyon Time)

The Jim Effect was in full effect today. It was horrible. My cousin’s husband, Jim, has the most unfortunate luck with screaming children. Flight, movie theater, supermarket line, you name it. Poor Jim has to endure the most annoying, brattiest kids EVER. And when I last visited Florida, this “condition” rubbed off on me. I realized on my way home when the child behind me would not stop kicking my chair while screaming his bloody lungs out – no matter how many times I asked the parent to keep her kid from using the back of my chair as a martial arts kicking pad.

Well today (technically Wednesday I suppose), The Jim Effect hit me as there was this screaming toddler who would not stop yelling at things outside the train window every 2 seconds. To give a little back story, we were on our way to Lyon after a glorious week in Paris. We had bought Eurail passes courtesy of my friend Mike’s suggestion (we’re meeting him in Spain – so excited, yay!! :)).

Since Emiliza and I like to be the prepared kind of folk, we went to the train station days in advance to make reservations for the days/times we wanted to take the train. This way we could book our lodging accommodations without worrying whether or not we’d be able to find somewhere to sleep. I like spontaneity but I don’t want to repeat the mixed gender 10 person room hostel experience we just left. More on that later but to summarize, we came back to someone sleeping in my bed, black stuff in the bed I was moved to, angry Turkish guy demanding to know why we didn’t invite him to drinks, and a deep sadness for the loss of my Bobble filtered water bottle which I later found :P

Back to the screaming child on the train… Halfway through our 5 hour ride (with my ears already ringing), the mom decides to start yelling at the kid for something random and then proceeds to start slapping him soundly. Needless to say, the kid cried/yelled for 30-45 mins straight afterward. That was when I started to miss the 30 secs to a minute intervals of peace we experiences before between the kid’s outbursts. It’s amazing how the little things really open your eyes to how good you had it before :)

Lyon has been nice so far. We got here at 6:40pm and proceeded to take the metro to our hotel. Other than the gypsy girl who would not leave us alone (she was trying to sell everyone there metro tickets), the ride was uneventful and simple. I’m really starting to get used to the subway/metro system. Well I’m at least getting more used to riding it and feel more comfortable figuring out where I’m going :)

After much excitement regarding our 2 room corner suite with a kitchenette (BOOYAH SHAKA LAKA!!! :)), we had dinner at ICEO. Cute, brightly decorated place with a broad menu from different parts of Europe. Since everything was in French and I was wary of eating random things I’m allergic to, I decided to go with a safe entrecôte signon avec frittes et un salade. Basically a medium rare ribeye of sorts with fries and a salad. Quite tasty :)

I haven’t had a steak in France that hasn’t been cooked exactly to my liking. The entrecôte was spot on in terms of tenderness and that freaking salad must have crack in it or something. The dressing is delicious. I experience a similar tasting salad in Paris. Emiliza thinks its a simple balsamic vinaigrette with olive oil which seems highly likely but it’s so light and tasty that I’m appalled at how simple the dressing is!! Emilia’s dish looked super good too! Some sort of vegetable stack with toasted goat cheese on top in a flavorful tomato sauce. Yum :)

Our meal was enhanced by a nice cold glass of Kir as an apéritif.

Wikipedia explains Kir as “a popular French cocktail made with a measure of créme de cassis (black currant liqueur) topped up with white wine”. It’s simple, not heavy at all, and easy to drink. We had our first glass in Paris sitting at a random cafe close to Tim’s and Diane’s while people watching.

The tiramisu at ICEO’s was calling our name. Damn. It was good. Served in a tall ice cream Sunday type glass, I was able I push my spoon straight down into the creamy dessert and grab a delectable bite with all the careful layers each and every time :)

I thought it was the end to a good meal but I was wrong! They brought out this amazingly cute cotton candy. It wasn’t until Emiliza pointed it out to me later that I realized that we were the only table to receive such special treatment :) how very sweet of them!! :D

NOM NOM NOM!

Today ended with separate workout sessions. I was dancing and squatting to Andre Nickatina, Mac Dre, & E-40 in the bathroom so I’d have a mirror. Then moved to the bedroom/living room for boxing, kickboxing, and ab exercises. Felt so good to work out :)

I’m so overwhelmed by the number of posts I still want/need to write/upload. There are several days missing from all this which makes me super sad. But I’m not going to lie, I want to enjoy everything Europe has to offer me. So if I have a choice between writing a post or experiencing Europe, I’m definitely going to choose gallivanting around the world.

Anyone notice the reference to my pin board on Pinterest? :P (follow me @ vyvacious :)). I do have notes/posts written that are back logged and will transcribe them into blog form perhaps during my next train ride or something.

And hey guess what? …I may or may not have accidentally kicked my rolling suitcase down some steps at the metro today. But that’s a story for another day :P I gotta keep you on your toes, ya know!! :D

For now, enjoy this picture of our devoured cotton candy :P

Bonsoir everyone!! :)