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Fran got molested virtually. Which means "Not for real", he just got covered in Photoshop layers.

Thank you Creativity for paying a visit and the rain outside. Check out real ads at The Inspiration Room

Metallica!

Metallica shirts everywhere, James Hetfield lookalikes everywhere, French everywhere, Robert Trujillo with his girlfriend everywhere, wait a second. Monsieur Trujillo? MAIS OUI! Metallica has landed to town. And I'm missing them. A fourth time live would've been epic. A mere "thank you" from Trujillo (after wishing him good luck tonight) is the closest live show I'm going to see from those guys this year.

The masters of masters, tonight: World Magnetic tour #2 in Halle Tony Garnier in Lyon. Lucky bastards who are going!

Hitch hiking whaeva

What's wrong with people today that doesn't have the guts the hitch hike? This is the cheapest and the easiest way to get to your goal! Not only the easiest but also the most interesting! You get to meet new open minded people as long as you speak a language "not-so-well" and say that you live at least 500 meters from the point you're hitch hiking from. Works every time!

I haven't had any problems yet with hitch hiking to this point in France. The first time was between La Grave and Serre Chevalier. This is in the middle of the mountains and the trip is about 30km. I had to wait about 45min before anybody picked me up. It worked though, so everything's possible.

One time in Francheville on the mountain of Lyon I thought there's going to be a bus down to the center. Unfortunately I was misinformed and didn't know what to do. So I put up my huge thumb and THE FIRST CAR STOPPED. Incredible! This was a couple and the driver was a man. I'm a guy. This usually never works. Well I got a ride to Bellecour, about the center of Lyon, depending on how you think of the place. They thought I was English. Luckily I'm Finnish.

Another funny and convenient story about hitch hiking in Lyon is from tonight about one hour ago when I wanted to get home. I was left alone on Avenue Berthelot (my street) and thought "por que no?" So I put out my thumb and the third car stopped. A Renault Twingo! I love them cars! I got kicked out after about 200 meters. What a pity. Even the old guys in the car next to me didn't want to open their minds to a random Finnish guy. Didn't matter. There was a Fiat Punto that was more than eager to help a foreigner in a need. So I got a ride to my place. For free. Thank you!

There was a gang of people outside our hotel who were apparently going to have a rock opera show the next day. I made new friends and had a few laughs. Too bad they didn't believe that I live right next to them. They were cool though. Have fun tonight and enjoy Nuits Sonores! In-joy et ciao!

From Paris with Difference

Paris. Over rated? Let's find out. An invitation from Emily and one hour later on the same Sunday morning I had the tickets in my hand heading towards Paris. Fascinating. A good two hours of train ride from Lyon to Paris and we're in the city of romance and expensive restaurants.

Let's see. We didn't visit the Eiffel tower, we didn't visit any museums, we didn't climb up to l'Arc de Triomphe, we didn't spend money on design artifacts, we didn't visit Moulin rouge, we didn't drink wine, we didn't eat French food and we didn't take lots of touristic pictures. What did we do then? Beware all of you skeptics, Paris lovers and American fast food joint haters, stop reading now!

We ordered a bucket of chicks from KFC and ate it in the woods (west of Paris), we slept in Little India (neighborhood next to la Chapelle metro stop), we had superb Indian food, we used the fantastic Veli'b city bike system to get around as well as the metro, we had ice cream, we ate incredible burgers at Hard Rock Cafe, we used the free toilets of McDonald's on Champs Elysees, we gave money to homeless guys, we visited the Ellen Von Unwerth photo exposition in the Bon Marché, we had coffees, we got lost in a fancy neighborhood. Oh and it rained the whole Monday.

Paris is not over rated, you just need to find a way how to enjoy it in another way. Swedish groups seen: 2, Americans: Eternal amount, Germans: 4 groups, British: at least 5, Finnish: 0. Where are you Finns?

In-joy ze pictures!

POV of Louvre

Street art

The normal every day taxi

Ellen von Unwerth photo exposition

Tent with electricity and a guarding bear outside

Yes, these pictures are taken in Paris

Cigar and a Jaguar XKR-S auspuff (normal stuff)

Seine

One week later...

Salut tout le monde encore! Let's briefly put the week in a bleu-blanc-rouge nutshell. So. My better half Dick and his better half Jenny came to pay an epic visit from 1st-5th of May. Sadly they took the Finnish weather with them so we had five days of freezing weather and rain. That didn't stop us from doing fun stuff like enjoy dancing elephants and partying Frenchies. Part-Dieu, Croix-Rousse, Fourviere, Bouchon Lyonnais, Parc de la Tête d'Or, Beer, Vieux Lyon, Perrache, 200 av berthelot, shopping and a big party was the program. They had fun too! We had fun! Hope to see you guys again!

What else? I'm going to try to stay in Lyon for the summer. There. Said it.
Mission #1: Find a job. (ongoing)
Mission #2: Make new friends. (done, still ongoing)
Mission #3: Learn the language properly. (getting there sooner or later)

Random happening of the day: Go to Place Terreaux, Lyon nine in the evening to check out if something's happening. Find a gang of fixie riders and ride a hardcore 30 kilometers run in Lyon with them. Epic! Next time I'll check pignonfixe.com to know exactly where to find new friends from.

In-joy the pictures from the big party that eventually ended 8 in the morning!