Holiday Haven (Days 1 & 2)

It is well overdue but I am back to blogging and have a lot to catch up on.... I am back on French soil and relaxing for the holidays; although not much different from my regular to do's over the past 2 months.

Where to start, what to say.... Well I have returned from a much anticipated, appreciated and enjoyed week and a half away in England (Angleterre) and Ireland (Irlande)!! To keep it simple and organized, and to retain as much of the experience as possible, I will reminisce and recount day by day......

Wed Dec 8:
Lyon - 61°F / London (near freezing)

A late evening flight from Lyon to London (or Londres, en français). While the flight was only 1 hour 20 minutes, it was delayed by a half hour, although a short delay, it is funny to think that it was a third of the total flight time!

I arrived in London just before 10 pm and met my friend Dave (from Canada!); and settled in for the night, in preparation for the following day’s travel to Cardiff!

Thurs Dec 9:
A finicky internet connection and a smaller travel bag in hand, Dave and I set out for an internet café and coffee!

Bus times….and eventually tickets in hand, we headed to the bottom and made a right to take the bus to Cardiff to see the Arcade Fire! With a meatball sub for the road and an irritable Welsh bus driver, the adventures began…..

Now, I think I am a pretty nice person… pleasant, friendly, accommodating… not so according to our bus driver with a thick Welsh accent, that although English, was barely comprehensible. As we took our seats, the bus driver enquired, “Who has the keeeybab”, and inquisitively scanned the bus to locate the offender. Not understanding what he said, as he had repeated his request at least 3 times, I thought maybe the keeeybab was my meatball sub, and said, “I have a sub”, but he did not hear me and continued on with finishing the last minute details before embarking on our road-trip. In the meantime I had eaten most of the sub and thought it would be a good idea to throw the remaining evidence away…… So I grabbed our rubbish and headed off the bus to find a garbage, asking the moody bus driver if there was a garbage close by; to which he replied the doors to the station were locked and that I was essentially out of luck. Back on the bus and ready to leave, the driver in an irritated tone proclaimed something to the effect of, “ahhh it was you, why didn’t you just admit it….’, in accusation to my keeeybab/sub, that clearly offended him. I, falsely thinking he was joking and being funny, chuckled throughout the scolding, only to be enlightened by Dave that I actually annoyed and likely provoked his natural prickliness.

Just over 3 hours later, and feeling exhausted from essentially two days of travel, we arrived in Cardiff (near Wales) for the concert!! Beers in hand we weaved through the crowd to find an awesome spot to watch the Arcade Fire… in actuality, I think the bulk of the Cardiff crowd watched the concert, while Dave and I (okay maybe me more than Dave) jumped around, danced and sang, and surprisingly with good accuracy guessed the order of the playlist! The crowd was a bit dull and motionless, and not as engaging as the college crowd of Ohio where we saw Arcade Fire last, but all in all a great concert and a good time!!!