Sleep is for the weAk

I had 2 objectives for the day. 1 was to collect my badge from the security gate and the 2nd was get cell phone service. Now before we left I made sure I knew where the gate was. So we headed off on the quick 10-12 minute walk from the apartment to the security gate is. I speak with them, they check some paperwork, and promptly tell me I’m in the wrong spot and must go to the main entrance of the headquarters. We walk back around to the front of the campus, we had to pass it on the way to the security gate. We head inside and I speak with the desk clerks. They inform me I was at the right spot the 1st time and call back to the gate to have them get the badge. We troop back around 1 more time (I could have gone through the campus with a visitor badge but Beth wasn’t allowed inside), but this time they were waiting for me and we successfully recovered the badge. Since we had a good thing going we went back to the main entrance declaring success and checked out the public areas.

We meandered through some of the cooler streets and alleyways as I lead Beth to the heart of Clermon-Ferrand’s downtown the Place de Jaude. We meandered past all the shops with me giving commentary all the way. Eventually we stopped for a quick lunch at a Kebab shop. It’s not fine dining but it’s one of my favorite things when just getting off those overnight flights.
while eating at an outdoor, some of the other expats stumbled upon us and we chatted for a few minutes.

After lunch we wandered back to the apartment to meet some folks bring us items we purchased from those who were leaving for the US. By the end of this, we made the mistake of sitting down and almost passed out. We hung on until 5:30 when we ate some dinner that another expat family was kind enough to bring us. After dinner we finally gave up and went to bed. We slept through the night and woke up on the right time zone. It’s a long day but if you can pull it off, you avoid jet lag.