A Tourist in Saint-Etienne, France

Hotel de Ville, Saint-Etienne

Time to play tourist in Saint-Etienne prior to the Croatia/Czech Republic football game later this day.

I'm staying at the lovely Hotel B&B Monthieu.

It's not a "B&B"; that's the name of the hotel chain.  It's on the outskirts of Saint-Etienne.  And when I say "outskirts," I mean "way the f*** out there."  It's is way out of downtown Saint-Etienne.  It's a 30 minute walk to the train station, and that's only about half-way to the downtown.

It is a nice, pleasant little downtown.  That's the "Hotel de Ville," which translates to "Town Hall."  It's not a "hotel" despite the name.

It has a nice tram line, which runs until they roll up the sidewalks in Saint-Etienne.  Which is about 8:00PM.  The lights of Paris this is not.

There are tourist sites in Saint-Etienne.  Like a museum of mines.  And a design museum.  Maybe another day, but not game day.

Lots of patisseries.  This is France.  And like everything else in Saint-Etienne, they are packed with Croatian fans.

I was good so I got a meringue, with a ribbon of dark chocolate around it.  Visible in the case, bottom right.

We walked up at this point.

Excellent view of Saint-Etienne.

Selfie to prove I'm here.  Getting close to game time, but that's for another post.