Meeting our first Exchangers!

Today was an exciting day but also a bit sad... we cleaned, packed, and locked up the doors to our "home" and headed to Lyon to meet Jean-Michel, Rachel and Roxane at the Lyon airport.  We took the scenic route along the river, where there were lots of vineyards, and ended up in Vienne.  We only had an hour in Vienne so we quickly went for a walk through the old town and saw  a couple of ancient sites:  the huge cathedral and also a Roman temple, which looked very similar to the one we saw in Nimes, only it wasn't as well-preserved.  They actually had it fenced off so we could just have a look at the outside of it.

Then we rushed off to find Rachel and family at the airport.  We were a few minutes late and not quite sure which terminal they were at, but we lucked out and parked at the right one.  (Why are airports so confusing??)  It was great to finally meet them!!  I have been corresponding with Rachel since November so I felt like I was meeting a long-lost friend.  Such an exciting part of doing home exchanges is making new friends and experiencing how other people live.  We chatted in the parking lot for almost an hour, and then it was time to hand over the keys to their car and say goodbye!  It was such a fantastic experience, being in their home and exploring their part of the world.  I hope they feel the same... we had a few bumps in the road (literally) but everything worked out well in the end, I think. :-)  And we are so thankful for all of our friends and family who are helping us out when we need them.  We couldn't do this without them.

From there we got onto the highway and headed towards Bordeaux, stopping for the night in a place called Thiers.  We booked an AirBnB last-minute and booked it based on price and location.  I didn't even really look at the photos, so AFTER we booked it, I checked out the place on google maps.  Oh my goodness, I was afraid we had made a big mistake... the building was old, ugly and actually looked like it was condemned.  But when we walked through the door and headed up to the 3rd floor, our apartment was actually quite quaint and inviting.  Very old and had tons of character... and very low beams so 3 of us had to duck our heads as we walked around.  Anyway, another interesting experience and the owner was very kind. (And he spoke English... such a nice bonus.)

Rodger roamed the streets for a bit and came home with pizza for our late dinner.  After dinner, Cameron joined him for another walk around town, and we found out that Thiers is the Cutlery capital of France.  Imagine that.  Everywhere you looked, there were stores selling knives and cutlery. The rest of us didn't have an interest in exploring.. .sometimes you've just had enough and you just want to put on your jammies and read. :-)