Limoges to Poitiers/Niort/La Rochelle

Updates for the last 2 days since I was too tired/lazy to write a post for yesterday.

Friday:

Melanie took me to the train station in Limoges and I took the train to Poitiers. I first sat down and then came along 2 smelly backpacker-looking and their dog who sat next to me. I kinda couldn't handle the smell and the dog constantly in my space so I finally moved away. Fortunately they got off at the first stop. Arrived in Poitiers and drug my suitcases down and up the stairs to the main lobby to see what platform I needed to be on for the train to Niort. Which sucked because it took me like 2 seconds to look and I had to turn around and repeat the suitcase-stairs process again and I think the second train arrived on the same platform as the train I was on before. On the train to Niort, there was this other backpacking smelly man. He was asking people around him to use their cellphones, but what's weird is that before arriving in Niort, he starting talking very loudly on a cellphone I believe was his. It went something like this:

"OUI JE SUIS DANS LE TRAIN.... EHHHHHHH.... NAN JE VIENS CHERCHER MA FEMME... EHHHH..." and so on. Unfortunately he was getting off in Niort like me.

Sophie and her dad were at the train station to pick me up. We got home and had tea and cookies with her mom after sharing awkward greeting kisses. I have a tendency to do the 2-cheek kiss going right side-left side. But everyone else wants to do it left side-right side. So I don't know how many times I've almost accidentally kissed people on the lips.

Then Sophie's boyfriend Guillaume came over to pick us up to meet some of her friends to have dinner at a nice pizzeria. Unfortunately it was rainy and quite cold. Guillaume is pretty adorable and hilarious. We had a good time at dinner. Everyone ordered a pizza except me because I knew it would be huge and covered in cheese. It's what I would have preferred at first, but I ordered a salad with raw salmon and avocados on it. And it was delicious, so I'm actually glad I didn't order the pizza.


Today I woke up at 9 to get ready to go to La Rochelle for the day with Sophie and her mom and brother. In La Rochelle we rented bikes and rode through town and out towards the shore and along it. I saw where I stayed in 2007 too. We stopped at a food stand out away from town and had chips (french fries) and sausages. I was worried about the weather on the way to La Rochelle because it started raining when we were in the car, but it ended being absolutely beautiful and not too hot. After we returned the bikes, we walked around La Rochelle a bit because there was a lot of market stuff going on. Sophie and I stopped to watch a dog trick show that made me want to die because it was so cute. Then we got ice cream and sat by the harbor. At 5 we met back up with Sophie's mom and brother and came back home. We had a lovely dinner of lamb and watched the french version of who wants to be a millionaire.