Yaaaay Braden.

Alright here's the deal. I'm still a week behind in posting what's been going on in my life and I can't deal with it anymore. I am going to briefly summarize the epic extended weekend that was Braden's visit to Lyon. And then I'm going to be writing in the present. Here we go:

He got in on Wednesday. That night we had some drinks at James Joyce (Irish pub we frequent in Vieux Lyon, shows all the rugby games) and just chilled out.

Thursday we decided to show him the boat (Marquise, bien sûr) because we always go there and wanted to show him what was up. It ended up being awesome because it wasn't very crowded at all. Side note: on our walk to the boat we came across a lot of fun obstacles (bridges, children's play things (what are those things called, they're like wooden or plastic animals propped up on a giant spring and kids can sit on them and move around awkwardly? Well anyway, those), and staircases and had our way and photoshoots with them. Ruby, Braden and I all went back to my house at 6AM and we all slept in my bed (what else is new).

Friday, we woke up at 3PM. When nighttime rolled around we ended up in a park type area (not really a park, more like a small dirt square with benches and a statue) in the Hôtel de Ville (but near Croix Rousse-where I will be living in three weeks) area. Not at all shady (like Bellecour often is at night) and actually a really fun place to hang out. Lots of other (French) people our age were hanging out and drinking and having a merry old time. We met a handful of French people and it was a great. We ultimately met up with Flo and Nicolas and tried going to a few bars/pubs (we wanted to do something other than the boat) but nothing was that much fun so we ended up going back to their place, listening to Air, talking, kicking it. Nicolas is one of the most hilarious people I've ever met. He loves speaking in English, so he speaks to me in English and I speak to him in French. He thinks the word "awesome" is the best word in the entire world and practices saying it every 40 seconds (he has a lot of trouble pronouncing it correctly, aka "ah-some." He tends to say "aow-som.") He also, for reasons unbeknownst to me (and as far as I can tell anyone else) really likes saying "Legend... wait for it... dary." As in saying something is legendary. I had no idea what he was saying for a good 10 minutes, but I finally got it. Ruby, Braden and I taught him how to say and use "that's what's up."

Saturday we made an effort to wake up slightly earlier (1:00), despite getting home around 6AM again. Saturday was aow-som because France and New Zealand were to play each other in one of the Rugby World Cup semi-final games that night. Because this was such a huge game (a semi-final, we're in France, and the All Blacks are one of the best rugby teams in the world) it was broadcast on a giant screen in Place Terraux (the square adjacent to Hôtel de Ville). We went, and it was so much fun. I was actually cheering (loudly) for the All Blacks because they're basically the only rugby team I'm legitimately familiar with, and I was representing Kate's people... needless to say I was in the minority. I got a lot of stares. The thing is though, France won (they actually game up from behind in the last quarter (time wise) of the game) 20-18 and the city went NUTS. It was amazing to be out in the city with thousands of Frenchies celebrating their rugby team winning big.

After that we went to a place called Ninkasi (there are multiple Ninkasis in Lyon but each is actually pretty different, but in general it's), a brewery with a Northwest steez, then walked around looking for somewhere to eat and, I'm not gonna get into it, but we had the best possible experience anyone could ever have at... McDonalds.

Braden (sadly) left the next day. But it was a completely wonderful weekend, one that I won't soon forget.


Something I've become aware of from writing this post: apparently I love using parentheses.

Enormous amounts of love and French kisses to you and you and you.

<3 Mego