My friend Mary Ellen has been traveling with us via blog and said that her feet hurt from all of the walking in Rome. She requested that we take it a bit easier for a day or two. Mary Ellen, this is for you…..
Today, Wednesday, we left Rome and headed for St. Etienne, France. It was sad to change countries just as I was getting used to saying Grazie, Prego, Buon giorno and Per favore. Now I had to switch to Merci, Bonjour, S’il vous plaît and Au revoir!! That is hard for an old person to do!!!!
To save even more shoe leather, we opted for a driver to take us to the airport rather than navigate the Rome cobblestone streets with our suitcases (which are MUCH heavier thanks to the clothes that we bought for Michael)!!
We were on an Air France “Hop” flight which was a much smaller plane than what we usually take…..
As we flew, I was surprised to see Mesa type mountains out my window……
….followed by larger, pointier mountains……
We had to Google it but found that we were over the French Alps…..who knew!!!
We arrived in Lyon and were met by a taxi driver who took us to a hotel in St. Etienne, about 60 kms (40 miles) away. Unfortunately we arrived during rush hour so the trip took about 2.0 hours.
The purpose of this trip is for Michael to visit a firearms manufacturer to do a walk-thru of his custom workshop. The area around St. Etienne is mostly industrial in nature and is well known for the firearms that are produced here.
Since we didn’t have any obligations until the next morning, we enjoyed a leisurely dinner starting with a wonderful bottle of Bordeaux…..
…….followed by a magnificent Bruschetta salad…..
… Shish-Kabob with REALLY, REALLY good French fries (I guess that is expected since we are in France)…..
… and a Pear cake dunked in Chocolate sauce……
And that was about it for the day…..no walking, no climbing, no sightseeing. Just sitting and eating….does that work Mary Ellen???