09-14-2025 Walk

Travel day. We had some adventure in the morning, though. Pat had tried to use the washing machine the day before, but the cycle took forever, and we found out that Pat had finally tried to interrupt it, without success. The machine locked up and wouldn't open for him to get his clothes out. So we messaged the Airbnb host, who either came over or sent someone, and they had to do a pretty extensive repair of the washer to both open the lid so we could retrieve the clothes and then repair the machine so it was functional again. Turns out that Pat missed a step about locking the drum before starting the wash cycle, and it got screwed up. The guy was eventually able to fix it, but he wasn't too happy about it. I also showered and shaved in the morning before the guy showed up. We packed up our stuff, and I cleaned the kitchen. When Ann was putting the pots away, she noticed water under the sink, it turns out that the trap had separated from the drain pipe. So I wiped all the water away and washed the pots and pans, not what I wanted to do before leaving. It was all good. I dry-mopped the floors as well before we left. Checked out after 9:30, then drove to Lyon, a shorter drive, mostly on freeways and toll roads, than others. Were originally going to stop at a place just outside Lyon, but I found that the Europcar agency closed at noon and wasn't going to open until 3:00. So we drove down to the train station where the agency office was and dropped Ann off to find the office and learn about how to drop the car off. Success, although it was a little difficult and funny to navigate Ann back to where I had temporarily parked. I finally got her, and we drove to the parking garage where the car could be dropped off. Mission complete, I'm glad not to have to drive again this time in Europe, it was moderately stressful and occasionally chaotic, but no miscues made! We were able to walk to the Airbnb, located about five minutes from the train station and, as usual, we had some difficulty finding the entrance. But we got in relatively easily and dropped our stuff off. Went and found a good pizza place, Beluzza, near the flat, had lunch there. We walked back to the train station and got just a little bit of food and drinks at the Carrefour City store there. Then it was back to the flat for a quiet late afternoon, where I had a restful nap. Ann suggested walking to the Lyon central park in the early evening, so we did. Took about a half hour to get there, and we walked in the park for over half an hour. It occasionally rained lightly but was never a problem. Saw a nice mirror lake and some roses at the end of the season. There was a pop-up singer setup at a gazebo that looked interesting, but Pat kept walking, so we did too. Around the park, then onto quiet city streets to walk back to the flat, stopping to buy some milk along the way. Ended up walking nearly five miles, so Ann's feet were sore. I made some curry rice for my dinner, Pat had quiche he'd bought earlier at the market. Ann didn't eat. We had the wine from the first winery, it was decent. And that was the evening.