After a 12 hour flight, during which I managed to get 8 hours sleep, we touched down in Frankfurt. I remembered Frankfurt Airport from many years ago (on the trip when I bought Kanumbra) as being a maze-like burrow of underground tunnels. So either they have redesigned the airport, or they have improved the signage, because this time I found my way effortlessly from Terminal B to Terminal A, where my connecting flight to Lyon would depart. I was somewhat surprised along the way to go through a Customs checkpoint between the two terminals, where they asked many questions about my trip to France. When they asked how long I was staying there and I replied "3 months", they asked for proof of return tickets. Unfortunately, I had not printed out my return tickets (only my tickets to Lyon) and my only copy was on my computer which was giving me problems in signing in. They then asked how much cash I was carrying, and when I said "Virtually none" they asked how I would support myself. I then mentioned that I had a French bank account and showed my card, and this seemed to satisfy them. The officer then appeared to do some searching on his screen and asked how long I had stayed last year. When I replied "5 months", he asked how I had managed that. I mentioned that I had obtained a Carte de Sejour, and showed him that card, and that seemed to do the trick. He waved me through and wished me a pleasant stay! One thing that surprised me was that while I got a passport stamp in Frankfurt, I got none when I arrived in Lyon. So officially, I never arrived in France - I am still in Germany! This got me thinking about how I might be able to use the Bilateral Visa Treaty between Australia and Germany to my advantage to be able to stay in the EU for longer than the 90 days allowed by the Schengen Treaty.

When I got to gate A40 for my Lyon flight, I logged onto the airport internet system to learn that Australia had beaten England who had only amassed 221 in reply. What's even better than just beating them is that this might also knock them out of the finals, because of England's two earlier losses to lower-ranked teams and the fact that they still have to play two of the stronger teams. England supporters have taken great delight in booing Australian players in all the games so far; I wonder if they'll now start booing their own team?

Having been met by Rita at Lyon and had coffee and croissants in the airport cafe, we started north on the one-hour drive to Auxonne. However, since the next two days were forecast to be canicule (heatwave) weather, with temperatures above 40 degrees, we decided to cheat and booked into an air-conditioned IBIS budget hotel in Dole, just to the east of Auxonne, to escape what would have been unbearable conditions on the barge. This would also enable Rita to get the remainder of her exam and assignment marking completed and allow me to solve my sign-in problem and get all the email accounts up and running on all computers and phones. While the hotel was pretty basic, it contained everything needed, and did I mention it had air-conditioning!!

After hiding away for several hours, and getting some much-needed horizontal sleep, we ventured out around 9pm to the Buffalo Grill next door to the IBIS. I have seen several of these restaurants in France and Switzerland but never been to one. The food wasn't bad and the beer was definitely cold.