Day 9- Leaving Manchester

This is mostly a wrap up of my Manchester adventures from earlier in the month, but if anyone's interested, here it is! I was able to sleep in a bit before getting ready to leave the hostel in Manchester. I arrived at the train station early to get my tickets, thankfully. The automatic ticket machines were on the fritz that morning so there was a lot of craziness to buy tickets, but I finally got one. After getting my ticket I headed to Pret A Manger to get a "super fruit" fruit cup and a sparking apple juice for breakfast because I felt like I needed the extra vitamin boost after the poor eating over the weekend. I also spotted a sandwich with prosciutto and asparagus and some other goodies on it, I knew it was the sandwich for me since I love asparagus! I grabbed the sandwich too and headed to my train.

Goodbye Manchester, until next time!

As I arrived at the airport I found a massive check-in line, but somehow a conversation began with myself and the family behind me who were also American. The family was from Texas and one of them knew of Charleston because she is a fan of the 'Southern Charm' TV show. I tried to be nice and tell her that people from Charleston don't really act like that, even though I've never actually seen the show, I can only imagine the dramatized, stereotypical, rich, southern characters they have on there, ick. We had a nice chat that lasted most of the line out. I was glad when the bag check guy asked if I wanted to store my bag for free under the plane, one less thing for me to lug through security was greatly appreciated!

I flew through security with no trouble and found a spot to sit and eat my tasty sandwich. I was sad to be leaving Manchester, I really love England. After arriving back in France it was a bit of a culture shock to get used to saying "Bonjour" and "Merci" again. I managed to hit my head as I put my bags under the bus, ouch! The bus trip back to Paris was a little over an hour, so I popped in my headphones and just relaxed until we got to the bus station.

It was close to dinner time when we arrived back in Paris so I headed across the street to a shopping center type building where I tried to find dinner. One place was far to fancy for my casual dress so I skipped that, and Starbucks was offering a small pasta salad for €5-6 so that was not going to cut it. I had more than 2 hours before my train left for Lyon so I sat in a seating area and was able to connect to wifi. I normally would have just headed straight for the train to Lyon to make sure I got there on time, but as it so happened, my sister's graduation commencement was going on at the same time. I tried the "live feed" that the school was offering but it would only show me a new live photo every time I refreshed the page. I decided to try my luck with FaceTimeing my parents. We were able to make a fuzzy connection to the ceremony, but the audio was pretty good. I sat there for almost an hour watching the ceremony and clapping silently when it was time to do so (there were people around who probably thought I was special ed). I managed to watch all the way to the end before having to head to the train station. I was very happy that I was able to be a part of at least one of my sister's big days.

my view of the commencement, proof that I actually watched

When I arrived at the station, I grabbed a sandwich, an Orangina, and a raspberry tart from Brioche Dorée and boarded my train. Before I got on the train, I waited by the Starbucks, which I think was a beacon for Americans because I heard at least 2 groups talking about getting coffee. Once on the train, I took my seat, only to find out that I was in the wrong seat after about a few minutes of chowing down on my sandwich, opps. On the plus side, my new seat was surrounded by attractive Frenchmen! Before I knew it, I was back in Lyon.

Gare de Lyon station