Vienne

Just a short train-ride away from Lyon, Vienne is a super cute town full of ruins and other little surprises to discover. It took my friends and I only 30 minutes by the TGV and 11 euros (roundtrip!) to spend the day in Vienne. We went off of a tip from my friend’s host mom and it did not disappoint.

We arrived pretty early in the morning, but it was right on time to stumble upon the Saturday market in Vienne where, bien sûr, we had to stop and do some shopping! After getting some breakfast first, we made our way through the market, stopping to try on jackets, dresses, berets… anything that caught our eye really. (Yes berets! Two of my friends bought berets that the man swore were “just like the Paris girls wore,” but hey, there were super cute on them, so I think it’s okay to be a cliché tourist sometimes!)

Next we decided it was time to find some ruins. My friend’s host mom hadn’t totally specified where to go for them, so it seemed the best option to just start walking until we found a sign or something to lead us in the right direction. What we found wasn’t exactly a sign, but we figured it was as good as a sign– atop the small hill near us we saw a giant old castle. So naturally, we start heading up the nearest path going up we could find, assuming we would see a path in the direction of this castle (We later found out it was called Mont Salomon.)

We walked for 30 minutes along this rode winding up without and luck at all, until we came across an old man in a bright orange vest. In our still slightly broken french we tried to ask him if we were heading in the right direction and he told us yes, keep going past the hospital and we will get there. (Get there we later found out actually meant back to Vienne’s city center) However, he warned us that we should all put our brightest colored clothes on because there was a wild boar hunt going on! I didn’t even realize there were wild boars in the southeast of France, so that was a very comical picture for me, imagining all of these elderly people chasing after some boar in France.

We never did actually make it to Mont Salomon, but we did find an amazing bar/restaurant called “Bar de l’hôtel de ville” where we all got a filet mignon, roasted veggies and potatoes, plus a dessert of our choice (between an apple tart with vanilla ice cream or a crème brûlée for only 13 euros. And it was a big serving, and tasted incredible. I would go back to Vienne just to eat here again. While we were eating here it started absolutely pouring outside, and we were braving up to head into the rain when the bartender (he and his friend had been spending the time joking with us and flirting with some of my friends) stopped us and asked us if we all wanted a drink to warm us up before venturing out into the rain. Hesitating at first, we each started to decline, until he said the words “From the house,” and after that we were all in agreement. Every person in the bar (the two bartenders, the cook, our party of seven, and another party of three that was joking around with the bartenders about us) got a shot of Jack Daniels Tennessee Fire and took it at the same time. That was the best shot I’ve ever had honestly. I’m not a fireball fan, but this was just the right amount of cinnamon and went down so smooth.

After that we were definitely feeling warmer so we ventured back out to find some museums. We happened across one ruin on our way to the museums, an old roman temple that was closed to the public but absolutely beautiful, and in remarkable condition. We only had time left in our day to go to two museums. “Le Musée des Beaux-arts, et L’amphithéâtre Romain. I am constantly stunned by all of the beauty I have the incredible privilege to see everyday while I’m here in France, whether it’s in Lyon, or somewhere else I’m visiting… it truly takes my breath away and reminds me how lucky I am to have this opportunity.

I know that I am so incredibly blessed to have the opportunity to sit here, writing this blog post for my Education Abroad Independent Study Program, and I don’t want to waste my time here. Of course I’ve been hit by a lot of small instances of culture shock here and there, and there are quite a few people I miss terribly, but this is an opportunity that only 3% of students in our nation have the chance to do, and I’m so thankful for my time here.

The rest of our trip in Vienne went smooth and I returned to my host family’s house pleasantly exhausted, and truly feeling at peace for the first time in a few months.