Towards the end

This will be brief.

I reached Lyon today. The hostel, as I had heard, is in the old part of town on the main hill. The location means the view from the back porch is absolutely beautiful. After I showered from the long day of traveling, I went down into Vieux Lyon to eat at a bouchon-- a little restaurant that Lyon is famous for. The tables are packed together in the dining room. I got a basic menu of three courses. First was a basic salad with lettuce, shredded carrots, and tomato with a vinaigrette dressing. The special part was the duo de chevres, two balls of goat cheese that were breaded and fried. When you cut into them, the goat cheese oozed out and perfectly balanced the vinaigrette dressing. Next was a steak and gratin dauphinois, which is one of my favorite foods. Potatoes, cream, and cheese. At this point, I could hardly eat anymore. But I still had dessert, so I ordered the one option I'd never tasted: profiterolles. Two balls of delicious, soft vanilla ice cream with a kind of ice cream cone-like crisp on the bottom of each ball. The crisps were on top, as well, and covered in chocolate syrup and whipped cream. I've been saving up and trying, mostly unsuccessfully, to budget so I could afford this meal. It was totally worth it.

I spent some time on the terrace looking out over Lyon and talking to a kid from Buenos Aires who is staying in my room at the hostel. It's crazy realizing that I am going home in a couple days. My European vacation/dream/experience is over for now. I am excited about going home, but there's still soo much I want to see and do in Europe. It is time to go home, though, and I can't wait to see family and friends. It's going to be tough to go back. Looking back on this semester, it has been quite a journey. I need to write down everything-- L'auberge espagnol style. But that is going in my private notebook, not here. Instead of ending this blog on that note, I'll recap my two weeks of travel and sum up Vienna and Prague.