Limoges

Sadly it had come the time for us to leave  the little town of Gourdon. We were both pretty sad to be going, as we had really come to love the town in the short time we spent there. The next place we were off to was called Limoges. We had picked it because it was on the tran line, and we had time to spare before heading back to Paris, and our hosts had said that it was a nice town. We left at about 4pm, and arrived in a downpour! It was the hardest rain we have had since being here, and we had to walk through it, bags and all. So our first impression of Limoges wasn't the best. Thankfully the rain eased up long enough for us to go out and find something for dinner. The place we were staying at was literally just a room. There was no kitchen, not even a kettle or microwave that we could use. We were pretty worn out from travel and trekking through the rain to find the hostel, so we got pizza for dinner. It was cheap and easy. Our room was tiny, a bed, cupboard, small desk and a shower off to the side. But it had an awesome sky window! It was one of the first places that we had our own room (apart from staying with people) so that was nice too. 

Luckily, on our second day in Limoges the weather had cleared up, and the sun was shining once again! We headed out to the grocery store to buy a baguette and some ham and cheese for lunch, and then went to find the tourist office. The people there were super helpful, and gave us a map of the town with suggestions on what to do. The museums in the town were all closed that day, so we decided just to wander around and explore. We found a beautiful park to have lunch in. After eating we walked around the park, it was so much bigger than we had expected! And absolutely beautiful! It was so incredibly manicured, with beautiful hedges and flowers and fountains. 

We spent ages just wandering around and discovering new parts of the gardens. We walked along the river for a bit and started to head back. 

On our way back to the hostel, we came across a beautiful old cathedral! It was absolutely amazing! You were able to go inside, and it was breathtaking. 

It felt like we had stepped into the past. There were huge stained glass windows all along the sides of the buildings.

 

The ceilings were so high and the walls were covered in decorations. There was a beautiful, massive old organ on one of the levels. 

And they had beautiful choral music playing, which gave it a magical feel. It was so amazing, I'm so glad we stumbled across it! 

After the cathedral we walked more into the centre of town, or the shopping district on the map. It was really weird seeing these really new and modern shops placed in these old, historic buildings on cobbled streets. We spent a long time just wandering around looking at different shops and bakeries. We found a cute little cafe and shared an awesome Nutella muffin. 

We were lazy again that night, and ordered pizza for dinner. Can you believe I'm getting sick of pizza? 

On our third day in Limoges we decided to go to the Musee de La Resistance. It was a museum about the different resistance groups during WW2 in Limoges. It was really interesting! Luckily you could get an English audio guide, so we could actually understand what was written about everything. We managed to spend 2 hours in the museum without even realising it! Once we were done we went back to the park we had found the previous day and had a late lunch. 

Once we had eaten we went wandering again. We came across a really old section of the town with beautiful old buildings. We found a creperie too! And of course we had crepes. So good! 

For dinner that night, I refused to eat pizza. Yes, it was easy and yes, it was cheap, but two days of pizza is enough. Instead we went to the grocery store and got the ingredients for a tuna salad. We didn't have any plates or bowls at the hostel, so we got a container to use as a bowl. We had been eating our breakfast cereal out of mugs we stole from the shelf near reception. This place had nothing. But nonetheless, we got by and made a pretty delicious tuna salad. 

One thing (among many) I love about Europe is that it stays light outside for so long! It will be 10pm and only just starting to get dark. It's so beautiful. 

Today we left Limoges to travel back to Paris. Our train took just over 3 hours, and we arrived in Paris at 1:30. Our new hostel was about 40 minutes away from the station we ended up at, so we were on the metro for a while. When we got off at our final stop, we were greeted with more rain! The world just really seems to hate us walking to our hostels. We started the search for the hostel, and it seemed that as we followed the directions we were going further and further into an area that did not look too friendly. We got lost for a little while, but after a quick look on Google maps we seemed to have found the right way to go. We had hoped this would take us into a better area, but no we continued in the same direction. We found the hostel, and once again discovered that we were staying in another Korean lady's house! We keep stumbling upon these places by accident, but they have turned out to be our favourites, and this one is no different! Although it seems to be in a bad area, and is quite far out of Paris, the hospitality of the owner makes up for it. Not only do we get free breakfast, she also makes dinner for EVERYONE every night! It's really amazing! Tonight we had a massive Korean spread of all sorts of Korean foods. I don't even know what I was eating some of the time, but I know that it tasted awesome! 

I couldn't really get a good photo of the table, this is less than half! 

The hostel itself is nice too. Everything's clean and the rooms are nice. And the owner has a dog!! We are both really happy about the dog. It's so cute! 

There is also a grocery store nearby, but we will only be needing lunch so we don't have to worry about making dinners! I'm really glad I found this place, it has such a homely feeling to it!