The drive was awesome, even though half of it was spent underneath a line of fog. When we broke out of it, the sun was shining bright and the trees looked beautiful now that they finally had color. I was super uncomfortable basically the whole time because every time we took a turn (I think I counted 748) I had to use my hamstrings to push my knees up against either the front seat or the passenger seat to keep from smashing the girls on both sides of me. By the time we reached St. Étienne my legs were so dead.
Anyway at first glance it didn't look very big, but Isabelle dropped Holly and I off at literally the most southern edge of the city and it took us an hour to walk to the city center. Shops are EVERYwhere.
I didn't get any great pictures just because...ok I don't know, I didn't think they were super interesting, but basically there were just roads going every direction with shops lining the whole street. We didn't really know what we were doing, but after a look at a tram map we decided to head north towards the cité du design, which we thought sounded interesting. Turns out it was closed because they were changing exhibits. Bummer! Not too far from there was a stadium that fits 36,0000 people, and I think that's where St. Étienne's soccer team plays, so I wanted to go have a look. We found it, I took some pictures, and we left. What do you think of it? Not quite the size of our football stadiums, but it's still pretty sweet looking, I think. We left the stadium in search for food.
On the way back to the center of town we stumbled across this section of town that was covered in graffiti. Every wall, everywhere. These pictures aren't a hundredth of what was there.
We made it back to the city and ate lunch, and by then it was like 1:30. There were a couple places side by side that all had pretty similar menus, but we picked one that didn't look super packed and went inside. The waiter read us the daily special, and I didn't really understand anything he said except that it sounded like a three-dish meal with lot of food that and a dessert, and we both decided that it seemed like a good deal. Most of the dishes were between 13€-16€ and that was only 13.50€, plus the tip is included in the price. Also, I got the whole meal, and Holly opted out of whatever was the first dish. So the waiter comes out a little while later with what I thought was the dessert for some reason, because I thought whatever they strew across the side of the plate was chocolate. It was some kind of soy sauce or something, and the dish inside was a really, really tasty seafood cake. I used bread to soak up what I couldn't fit on my fork until the waiter came and took it away. I could've eaten at least four more. Holly and I got our dish of what was beef, noodles, and some marinated vegetables. It was really good! After that, we got a dessert of a layered vanilla and chocolate crème with the consistency of pudding with little cake bits in the top layer and tiramisu bits in the bottom with the chocolate. I think I left that restaurant feeling more full than I've been since I got here. SO GOOD.
After lunch, I wanted to go see this massive cemetery that overlooks the city because I've never seen anything like it. We had to hike up about 2159 stairs to get there, but after that meal I definitely needed to at least work off maybe the cake bits in my dessert to feel better about myself. Anyway it was worth it, the cemetery was enormous and I couldn't have possibly imagined what was there. I don't think there was a single tombstone that didn't accompany an actual tomb right there with with it. There were also several little house-like things, I can't remember what they're called. We walked around for probably 20 minutes or so and got lost, but we made it out eventually. There were tombs from the late 18th century there! I wonder how expensive it'd be to have even a small tomb made and kept clean for you. There were literally thousands there. Crazy sauce. 
We descended back into the city to head back to meet Isabelle to go home. About halfway down the stairs I took some pictures of what I thought we make a good panorama of St. Étienne, and it turned out ok I guess. I like the one of Davézieux better, and I can't wait to make one of Annonay because it will be even more awesome.
Anyway, I think it was around 5:40 by the time we were in the car on our way back to Annonay. An hour and a half later we got home and had a refreshing drink of some fruit juice or another, and then I went with Isabelle to drop off Holly back in Charnas. She really does live out in the middle of nowhere, I feel bad...
So today is Thursday. The weather was pretty weird outside, black clouds and sun with blustering wind. I didn't really go outside though. I played volleyball tonight, but it was more just a practice than anything. There were only eight of us there, opposed to the 30 from Monday. I got to know some of the other players though, so I'll be more comfortable when I go back to play next week. I should probably learn some of the names though instead of just the faces...
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