The Lyon's roar

Salut de Lyon, France! Allow me to catch you, my devoted readers, up on what's been going on. I left off on my way out to Montramarte. What a day! I walked around for at least 6 hours with Guy. We found the flea market we were looking for, but it didn't have vintage clothes (which was what we wanted) so we got directions from a shop-keep to an area that has some vintage stores. It was only a few metro stations away so we decided to walk to it. We found the area, or something close to it pretty easily. We saw tons of cool stores in this incredibly busy and vibrant markety area. I think it was more like the ghetto of Paris, but still classy because it's Paris. We decided it would be a good plan to get lost so we just started making random turns and walking down whatever street looked interesting. We turned a random corner and found.... Sacre Coeur! The gorgeous and famous church on a huge hill in Montramarte. Quel coincidence! We ascended the million or so steps an were greeted with a spectacular view of most of Paris at dusk. It was breathtaking, and not just because we'd climbed a bunch of stairs! I was beginning to feel pretty Paris-beauty-drunk when we started walking downhill and trying to find a restaurant. We walked onto this road where there was an open-air restaurant filled with trendy Parisian couples eating dinner and being serenaded by an old man playing "La Vie En Rose" on an accordian. Absolute magic!
After that we decided due to the ocst of restaurants to go home and make food. Everyone met up at the apartment for dinner and drinking and then we managed to actually get Markus to come out with us for a night. We grabbed a few bottles of wine and took the metro back to Montramarte to drink in front of the Moulin Rouge. It was awesome! I've now drank wine in front of some of Paris' biggest tourist attractions! Go me!
For our last day in the gorgeous Parisian flat, I got up and spent awhile just walking all around our neighbouring area. I really wanted to soak up as much of our area as I could. It was magical and I saw so many adorable streets and building and markets and cafes and all that French goodness. I then spent awhile chilling in the apartment before heading to the cemetary with Guy and Markus where Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde are buried and being 8 minutes to late to get in!!! ARGH! That night we all hung out in the apartment drinking wine and beer (although I didn't drink the beer) until very late. Guy and I were real champs, though, and we stayed up until 4am, and then when Guy went to bed I was still up until almost 5am- I just didn't want my last night in the apartment to end.
The next morning we got up at 9-ish and cleaned for a few hours before we had to check out at 11am. We then lugged our bags to the hostel we'd stayed at before to see if we could scam the use of their luggage room until our trains left. That was a no-go as their was an incredibly mean woman working the counter. We lugged our luggage to the other end of the city in a vain attempt to find Jim Morrison's grave. Apparently in Paris "graveyard" means "maze from which there is no escape" because we walked around for ever and had to leave before seeing Jim's grave because I had a train to catch. I did see Oscar Wilde's grave, though, and as is the custom I donned my red lipstick and lay a big smooch on it. Sad about missing Jim's grave, but what can you do?
The boys saw me off at the train station and I took a train to Lyon, France. Since travelling a lot of my travel buddies have been telling me about couchsurfing.com where you basically do a half-exchange with people and stay at their house for a few days while they show you around the city and such. I decided to give it a go since I'm poor and it's a fantastic way to really experience the culture. I'm currently staying with a fantastic couple in Lyon named Sofia and Mikael. They came and got me at the train station and before taking me to their charming flat we ascended this hill to a look-out station with the most spectacular view of Lyon at night. They fed me amazing dinner and then let me use their internet (which I'm also doing right now) to check emails and such.
Today Mikael was at work and Sofia walked around Lyon with me and showed me the major sights. I saw a beautiful church and the same look-out but with a day-time view. My favourite thing today was this huge Roman collasseum built into a hill. It's amazing! After walking around all day we came back here for more delicious homemade French food (I'm getting spoiled) and then spent the evening in the flat. I've also been (finally) uploading all my photos and wishing I didn't have so many!
Tomorrow I'm taking the train to Toulouse in the South of France, and I'm very excited!