Day7 - Adios HP Villefontaine !!

A week long grazing on the green pastures in the cafeteria I think I can see white/black/brown patches on me like the French cows !!! I haven't used the phone to talk to anyone ever since I've  been in France. And anyone that I talk to first is probably going to hear some cattle instead of the usual "conversation opener - Hello". 

A great disappointment came in as a reply to the email I'd sent to the hotel helpdesk enquiring about the bicycling to Lyon (~50km). The guests aren't allowed to ride more than 10 kms from the hotel !!! Firstly who would ? Only some crazy bloke like I might even think of attempting to do so. I've seen cars on the highway that has only the driver in it and no one else. Underutilized resources and we talk all non-sense about global warming, ozone blah blah..!!! But as the saying goes, if something doesn't go your way then there's probably something better waiting for you. Bid adieu to the trainer and the team as the entire team would return to their countries by the flights leaving tonight. Looked like I was the lone explorer immigrant over the weekend from the hotel. The trainer at HP was of a great help as I obtained the metro map plan of Lyon and the city tourist POI guide. So tomorrow morning its going to be a 2 km walk to La Verpillière to catch a train to Lyon. 
Some new stuff learnt today at the supermaket :-) :: 

1. Oignons  -- Onions 
2. Champignons -- Mushrooms
3. Concombre -- Cucumber 

Just an attempt at self portrait in the hotel room.. 

 
For lunch :: Cantonese rice, gherkins, broccoli, french fries, fruit salad and Apple Juice !!

A lovely coffee machine at office with superb options !! 

A serene sit out area with the right temperature like that of a greenhouse. ( outside office it is 6 Degrees C) :-)

Adieu HP Villefontaine

A 2.5km walk from hotel to the Supermarket named Casino adjacent to Cinema de Fellini...

A subway/underpass for bicycle/pedestrians. Sweeeet..!!!! 

France- A-travel-back-in-time....!!!

This was quite an stir on my brain. Travelling at ~800kphAltitude of 32000ft dark skies, flying over countries, states and territories that I;d only have imagined this was an offer too good to be true. Anyway, the company i work for has arranged a weeklong training in Lyon and today... err.. yesterday.. err.. Damn.. what day is it I wonder.


The usual bout of excitement follow as I finished the last minute formalities by 18th. All prepped, packaged and ready to fly on 21st early morning from Bangalore.  There isn't a direct flight but a connecting flight from Paris to Lyon. Hired a cab till Bangalore International airport and my brother agreed to give me company. Reached 4 hours early which gave enought time for the check in and keep all the documents in place to go through immigration without hassles. Gate no 15 and after 2 hours the wait seemed looong..!!! The last 45 mins were the ones that made me dizzy. Lot of folks travelling to Paris. The boarding process started 10 mins early starting with elite, business class and then the boarding by row numbers and mine turned out to be in the first batch :-) Yippeee...!!! 
Once on the flight the wait for the take off began which was another 45 mins away. That to me is the best part in travel by flight. The sheer power of the engines to launch the heavy bird to the skies.   Some pics follow ::

 

Once I checked in to Hotel Mecure at 12:30pm, settled down for a while and did the usual, FB status update :-). After about an hour headed to the restaurant for lunch and had the only vegetarian item on the menu. Rice with salad and a couple of variety of cheese. Started with soup (Actually crayfish soup minus crayfish) and some delicious  and a strange variety of bread (similar to crossiant but harder and much more like soya). Also went out for a stroll to check out where the company premises were and to my surprise right in the backyard beyond the highway. Time to call it a day as I need to get some much needed sleep. Lets see how it pans out for the rest of the week. :-) Hope to log some miles on the bicycle too.