It’s quite hilarious to think of today as day 0. I believe the hikers on the Appalachian trail came up with the idea of a day 0 as the day before starting a long distance hike. Well someone who doesn’t travel very far to start a camino did anyway. I’ve been in transit since Friday and today is Tuesday. So day 0 for me began 3 days ago at least – and it continues.

I say transit even though I had a one night stopover in London and a two night stay in Lyon where I was able to stay in airconditioned comfort whilst the world outside melted. Not as bad as the traffic lights in Italy but it was so hot I didnt even contemplate walking the couple of kilometres to the hotel from the train station in Lyon – I’d walked across the road from the airport to the train and thought I was about to get heat stroke so once arriving in Lyon Part Dieu I was in no mood for another walk across the burning pavement – a taxi was there so a taxi it was. Officially it was 38 degrees however I believe the concreted area outside the station created a hot plate and the temperature was not below 50 Celsius!

Anyway I spent night one in air conditioning with a quick dip in a stable converted to a swimming pool under a church. At least thats what the girl at the hotel told me. See for yourself. Oh and it was just above the breakfast room. Very unique – but also very welcome.

With another day to melt I made the effort to site see and jumped on the hop on off bus for a trip around the city and up to the Basillica before participating in a walking tour in the old town and eating at a Bouchon in the street opposite the hotel. The Bouchon is apparently a typical restaurant in these parts and the maître de was particularly friendly seating me at group table. This was a welcome distraction from the heat and was like a camino meal with Korean Swedish Danish Aussie Brazilian and French partaking in the meal. I learned that a coffee in Copenhagen now costs up to 8 euros or $16 AUD!

So before heading out this morning I managed a quick trip up to the Basilica de Notre Dame to check out the stained glass windows and the art work on the ceiling. The temperature was quite mild and yet it seemed everyone was waiting for it to heat up before commencing their daily activities! The Basilica was definitely impressive and good to go at 7am before the heat hit. The view of the city wasn’t bad either but the scaffolding and restoration works made the access and photo opportunities a little disappointing from the outside.

So back to the hotel and bus to the train and here I sit heading to the beginning of my next camino. Only 34 degrees maximum in Le Puy hopefully it feels somewhat cooler than Lyon did yesterday! I can say I finally feel a little recovered from jet lag although jet lag and heat wave clearly do not compliment each other!

Oh and its Bastille day in France so I was looking forward to the 10pm fireworks but little did I know that the World Cup game between Spain and France was on so nothing would happen until it was over. As it turned out the fireworks did something to brighten the night after Spain won the game. It was interesting to see every bar and every street corner had french people watching large screens in hope that France would overcome in the last minutes – I was too tired to wait so returned to my room where I was fortunate enough to see the fireworks from the window after watching last minutes of the game. Bon nuit from Le Puy!