Today we met some very nice and friendly French people.
This was a travel day with a 4.5 hour train ride to Le Puy. The train ride to Lyon was uneventful and no one talking. Many people on their smartphone and the only sounds were from a very young child, who was having a pretend conversation on his mother's smartphone. However on the connecting train to Le Puy we had a pleasant conversation with two french ladies, about our age, who were also on a trekking adventure. One of them knew a little english and with my little french we had many laughs, especially when they discovered, as a foreigner, I was able to get a senior's discount on our train tickets, yet a French traveller was hassled by the train conductor because he lacked the proper paperwork for a senior's discount. This interaction with the conductor started our conversation with the two ladies and made the last two hours go quickly. It was a pleasant encounter and we met the ladies again in town and again at our hotel.
We had another pleasant encounter with the Ibis hotel staff. I was having difficulty making reservations for tomorrow's accommodations. The female staff spoke very little english, but she understood my anxiety trying to communicate on the phone. She understood enough to complete my booking. That put us in a great mood, and off we went to explore the town.
Le Puy is not a big town and its cathedral and statue of the Virgin Mary on the hilltop attracts many tourists. And it is the starting point for trekking GR65 (Chemin de Le Puy) and there were many hikers like us enjoying the restaurants and cafes. Being a small town it was surprising to see so many unique fashion shops. Local business must be good.
"Je dors a poings fermes" is a French phrase meaning,
Julie was just so excited that we got a room with a cat picture on the door. It must be good karma.
Many beautiful building on route to the town centre.he wa
The cathedral and statue in the distance.
This cat was checking out the action below her.
The cathedral in the background
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