4:30 came early. No I didn't have to wake up. But the room was a bustlin. I tried to sleep longer but 5:30 came quickly. Annah, Lizzy, and I woke up and got ready. We finished packing our bags and grabbed a quick breakfast snack. At 6:10 we left the facility for a week of travel, alone. It hit us then what we were getting ourselves into. We made the trek to the train station in the dark and cool morning air of Verviers. The train station was full of people at 6:30 in the morning! The most crowded I've ever seen it. We got on the 2 hour train to Brussels midi. We transferred there to a new train that was headed towards Lyon. We found the platform no problem. This is the train we had reservations for so when we got on we tried to find our seats. We struggled for a minute but found them right next to the door we entered. They were in the little awkward room of 8 seats. Not a great location. The train was kind of dirty and not that comfy. I sat down next to a guy and this cloud of stench filled the air. At first I was optimistic about the smell fading. Well it didn't. BO, alcohol, and drugs of all kinds. Just straight up smelled like that the whole time. I had to breathe through my cardigan, backpack, and the vent air next to the window the whole 4 hour train ride. It was probably the worst train ride ever. Also the certain person who smelled was inspected by like 5 security people. They checked his identification and searched his bags and were questioning him for a good bit. I wasn't sure what it was about, but he came back. That didn't make me any more comfortable. I watched a lot of Netflix and focused on my breathing the whole time. We made it to Lyon and here is where the fiasco begins. So.... you remember that train we thought was a bus and then found out was a train? Well we looked at the board and the 1:08 train was in fact, a bus. We got confused here. We now assumed only buses ran to annecy. We asked some people where to buy the bus tickets and they directed us to a kiosk. We looked up times and there was only a "bus" leaving at 2:08. It was only 12 so we had 2 hours to kill. We bought these tickets, bought some sandwiches, and then waited. We went out to the bus stop and waited for our bus. We saw a sheet with the timetable and didn't see a 14:08 bus. Just a 13 and 15. That was weird but we had tickets so we just assumed it was wrong. Well 2 o'clock creeps up and we don't see a bus. We are concerned. We don't know who to ask because there are no help desks and who knows if random people speak English. We didn't know what to do, so after 14:08, we went back in the station and looked at the boards. We asked a lady about our bus tickets and she informs us they are train tickets.....seriously? This whole time we thought there were no trains at all but really the app just misled us because there was no 1 oclock train, just a bus. But there was a 2 o'clock train which we missed, waiting for the bus that doesn't come until 3 o'clock. It was a mess. At this point we just needed some serious help. I had finally spotted an information center by the bathrooms and the lady spoke english, thank goodness. We told her our dilemma and she found us the next train which left at 4:08. We had 2 hours to wait again. Yay....we went outside to find something to do and spotted a mall. We went into Primark. It wasn't as good of an experience this time. It was smaller and super crowded. Also things aren't as cheap as they seem. We went back to the station and waited for the platform to show up on the board. The platform assignments only show up 15 minutes before departure which is super inconvenient. Finally we found our platform and boarded the train. Praise. Back on track. The seats were super comfy and the train was darker and nice. Great environment for a nap. I laid down and knocked out before the train even left the station. I woke up an hour and a half later. We were almost to our destination: Annecy (on-eh-see) (at least thats how we think it is pronounced). It only took an extra four hours, but we got there. There was another group of security people with a dog on this train too. And I saw a huge group of military people patrolling at the train station in Lyon. They have some serious security and precautions here. They also check your bags when you enter stores and such. It's a bit unnerving because I always feel like something is going on that I'm not aware of. But glad they are always on the lookout. When we entered Annecy's train station, I was relieved. It had been a long day. We looked at directions to our airbnb. It was literally a 3 minute walk down the street. Perfect. The owner left the keys to the apartment with the store owners next door. They were open but their doors were locked. I awkwardly knocked on the door and waved at them. The things you have to do when you travel the unknown. They finally came over and spoke very little English but we got it figured out and they gave us the keys. Woot. We went upstairs to the first floor (weird right?) and tried to unlock the door. Well there are three locks so that took some time to figure out. After we made it inside, we explored the apartment. It's very clean and quaint and perfect for our needs. The owner wasn't there yet so we dropped our stuff off and went to explore the town. We just started walking towards the lake and within like 10 minutes we saw it. The mountains loomed above and the clear blue teal green lake swam below. It was beautiful. They have parks and bridges and swings and swans and boats and it's just adorable. We could've sat there all day. We kept walking to find dinner and found cute canals and old buildings but not much luck on cheap food. After we had looped around, we settled on pizza. We split 2 pizzas while we sat outside of the restaurant and our view was the lake and mountains on one side and the canals on the other. Straight out of a movie. We finished dinner and ventured back to the airbnb. We were nervous about meeting Benjamin our host. We weren't sure if he spoke English or if his family would be there or we even joked he could be having a party when we show up. Well...option number 3 was correct. He had a bunch of people over. It was so awkward meeting him. He spoke a little English and was very nice and accommodating, but I felt awk so we just talked briefly and introduced ourselves and then went to our bedroom. We sat in there not really knowing if we should have stayed out there or what. We didn't know how that all works. While we were discussing how we didn't want to seem rude and such, they all left. We quickly took our showers and got in bed before they came back. Bedtime after the long, confusing, frustrating, awkward, but beautiful day was welcomed with open arms.
Tomorrow: boat tour of the lake!

Fun facts: still no shower curtains. A lot of people smoke here. A lot of people speak English. Love.

Shoutout: My mom because I miss her, and I know she would love all of these places I get to explore. I wish she could be here with me! I love you!