Going Postal

So I'm wrapping up a project while we're over here, and I needed to overnight my external drive to my video editor--the French Internet is apparently unable to handle 11GB uploads. So we started asking around: "Where is the FedEx office?"

Nonexistent, it seems, in France's second largest city. We asked at the Beaux-Arts Museum (surely they ship things), but they did not know. We asked at the office of city management, but were told they aren't allowed to release that information. We went to the tourist info center, and they didn't know either. So they sent us to the post office, who were very friendly and helpful. I could mail it via French Post, but they could only guarantee sometime in the next 2-6 days. They did provide the address for DHL, however.

Two hours later, I'd walked halfway across Lyon before finding a taxi that would take me to 6 Rue Lertot, out by the tracks. He dropped me off and split. The folks at DHL were quite helpful. But I was stranded in some kind of industrial zone without a ride. So I walked halfway back across the city again before finding another taxi. When I told him where I wanted to go--the square outside our apartment--he asked why I wanted to go there, implying there could only be two reasons: smoking pot or something else I couldn't understand. He replied that it was better that way.