Nantes-Pouzagues-Lyon

Our two nights in Nantes turned out to be great; we had just planned on stopping there to assist us in getting to the middle-of-no-where-Pouzauges, but it turned out to be a lovely town. We finally did the tourist thing and hopped on a city tour double-decker bus only to find out that they only had information in French! We thought we'd take the opportunity to try and build on our French vocab, so chucked our earphones in and hoped for the best - yeah right! The woman was talking so fast we gave up and just decided to follow the wee map. It also turned out that after two stops we had the whole bus to ourselves, which we found hilarious! Our hotel was also on a lovely picturesque street and when it was lit up it was gorgeous with lots of flowers on balconies! I'm loving all the flowers that seem to be everywhere throughout all the cities we've been to. A great shopping mall as well with cafes a plenty to choose from.

We left Nantes for a train and bus journey and safely arrived in Pouzagues to discover that everything is shut on a Monday and that there was no internet cafe! Eek! But we soon got over that and set to discovering the town. It was beautiful and the weather was great all week. We easily fitted into the lifestyle of getting up late, lounging around most of the day, starting wine-time around 4ish and then settling in for a late night. We read a lot, walked a lot, drank a lot, and met some lovely people. There was a town square with a bell tower that went every 15 min and on the hour. At first I thought it was quaint and then annoying and then it fell into the background and I was surprised when I did hear it! We had such a relaxing time and perfect timing as we were a little tired from being overly-touristy in Paris, Brest, etc.

We arrived in Lyon late last night after a 4 and 1/2 hour train and bus trip with our first 1st class TGV experience ... no more 2nd class for us! Big seats and lots of room win everytime. The weather is great in Lyon atm, a bit chilly but the sun is out. We're planning on staying here for at least three nights maybe more to see the Wallabies play Japan on Saturday - not live but I'm sure we'll find lots of Aussies in some random pub. There seems to be lots to do here and first up on our list (after my internet fix) is a bike tour and a river cruise. Should be great.

We took loads of photos of Nantes and Pouzagues but unfortunately I've just gone to upload them and we've lost them all...but I could easily be doing it wrong, cause Matt has left me to my own devices and that's never a good idea! Fingers crossed we'll have some up soon!