First day in Europe!

Day #1

"One of the gladdest moments of human life, methinks, is the departure upon a distant journey into unknown lands. Shaking off with one mighty effort the fetters of habit, the leaden weight of routine, the cloak of many cares and the slavery of home, man feels once more happy.” – Richard Burton

15/08/13

Just arrived in France – Charles de Gaulle Airport in PARIS!  After a 12 hour flight, I was feeling tired, but super excited about my new life in Europe.

Lima - Paris

I said good-bye to the new friend I met on the plane and I started looking for my luggage and a way to get to the train which was supposed to take me to LYON.

After 2 boring hours in the train, I got to Lyon at the Gare Part Dieu! So, next step? Tried to get some free wi-fi. - By the way, in France "free" is a company and is not actually free.-  And lucky me, there was real free wi-fi at the station.

Paris - Lyon

I sent a message to my hosts and followed their instructions to get to their house. 

1. Take the tram T3 - Which was just outside the station, but I was too stupid to realize that, so it took me a while to get in.

2. Decendre á l'arret "Gare de Villeurbanne" - Villeurbanne is by the way, other city, but is so near to Lyon that if you cross the street you're there.

3. Wait for one of my hosts to pick me up.

While I was waiting for my host with all my big luggage, I realized I didn't pay for the tram, and then I realized I didn't see anyone paying, just one guy. I felt guilty, but then I forgot about it.

Finally I saw Meryem (my super nice host) coming. I met her on COUCHSURFING - You can check my post about it here. - and she and Pierre (her husband) offered me to go to CLERMONT-FERRAND - my final destination-  with them and share car expenses - the name of this in french is "covoiturage"-. I agreed, so they also offered to host me for one night.

Meryem and her lovely cat

Meryem was from Morocco and Pierre was french. They were such a great couple! Also they had a little beautiful cat! - I just love cats!. We shared nice talks and they invited me a  tasty dinner at their house.

Delicious dinner made by Pierre and Meryem

DAY: 1

MONEY SPEND: 0 euros.
ALCOHOL: Some wine
PEOPLE I MET: 3