We had pretty much used up all our franks and wanted to only use Euros. I still needd to buy a shot glass and Emma wanted something from Switzerland. Unfortunately, no-one would take euro coins, only notes. That was a problem; I didn´t want to have to draw more Swiss currency before we left. But, I did need some, so I took out the smallest amount I could. This paid for the shot glass and there was a bit left over. Emma wanted to buy a pillow with the Swiss flag on it, for just about how much we had left in franks. Well, we were about 30 frank cents short! She ended up paying by card and we had the money left over.
We got our train to Dijon and arrived in the small city after an uneventful journey. As we arrived I got a call from a guy called Simon. Simon is taking the same master´s course as me, at Cranfield in October. I found out on Facebook that he lived in Dijon and was there this weekend. Seemed like a great opportunity to meet one of the future peeps I would be studying with.
Em and I made our way to the hostel, first stopping by a tourist info place to get equipped with maps, directions and bus instructions. Most of the stuff in the city seemed walking distance except for our hostel which was slightly out of the way. Well, it was probably walkable but not laden with packs.
The hostel was nice. We had a private room with en suite (yay). No kitchen, but free fast wifi in our room. We spent some time catching up with blog and photo uploading, and general stuff (since we had such crappy internet in Bern). Simon organised with us to meet at a big square around 7pm. So, we caught up a bus into the city centre and made our way (with a slight bit of getting lost) to the Place du Liberation.
This square wasn´t really one geometrically. The one side had a large building Palais de Ducs, and the other side was a semi-circle, lined with cafes and restaurants. In the middle there were two rows of water jets shooting up from the ground. And again with the half naked kids playing in the fountain in front of some big official building. Creepy.
We met Simon there and he took us over to a café where he was sitting with a couple of his friends. His two friends Vincent and Bruno didn't seem to speak quite as good English as Simon, or maybe they just decided not to join the conversation quite as much. Also, it was apparent that they´d all been drinking for a while before we got there. We got some beers and sat there for a while chilling. Simon and I got chatting for a while, getting to know each other, et cetera.
We moved from there to a less touristy area, and one that had many bars and restaurants. We stopped in at a local place that Simon and his friends liked going to. It had interesting décor inside. We had glasses of 51 there. 51 is a French liquer similar to Sambucca. We had them topped up with water to make a cocktail of sorts. By this time (a beer and shot) Emma seemed to be getting a tad tipsy and drowsy. She made me finish the rest of her drink.
Simon needed to go have a meal with his parents since he was in town for the weekend only. Vincent also headed off for a bit. We went to an Italian restaurant in the area and had pizzas. The service was a bit, well, terrible. This is apparently what French service is meant to be like according to Simon.
After dinner we walked back to Place du Liberation and met Vincent and Bruno there before Simon arrived. The five of us walked from there towards the house of a friend of theirs. They took a quick detour and showed us the owl. This owl is a little hand-sized carving on the side of one of the churches. It is apparently good luck and you are meant to put your left hand on it and make a wish. So, we did. Emma just about needed a lift up to get to it though ;)
From there we kept walking. Bruno stopped in at another friend´s place and the rest of us continued on to the first friend´s place. We arrived to find a group of people sitting around a table outside, with lamps set up, music playing and some people playing poker. Looked like fun.
Introductions were made and a few of us sat down one end of the table. Simon, Vincent, Emma and I played a French drinking game called Maia for a while and chatted while we went at it. It was quite a bit of fun. Em and I practiced some French by using French numbers.
It started to rain so everyone packed up and moved inside. We sat in a lounge room and continued to chill. It was a decent house party / gathering but unfortunately most people were conversing in French, which left us a tad not able to join in. Still, I kept chatting with Simon for a while.
By about 1am we decided to make a move and head back. The night was good but not being able to join in conversations wasn´t too great. Simon showed us the way out and pointed us i the right direction, and Emma and I walked back to the hostel and crashed.
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