OK, SO WE ARE here, NOT there ANYMORE, oops the blessed shift
key again! We made it to Lignieres with our Kats in tow. The flight on United
UA900 was uneventful, which is very, very good. Went up, up, up north in
Canada, across Baffin Bay, over southern Greenland all blue and a rising sun’s
red/orange glare, across the Atlantic above thick stratus clouds thousands of
feet below. Ireland was invisible, as was England, France had puffy cumulous
clouds and a very smooth landing. TSA check in SFO was quick and efficient even
with the Kats, no surprises.
In France we had our bags about as quickly as humanly
possible, what with the long walk through the tunnel from the satellite Terminal
1 to the Real Terminal 1 Roundhouse, up the ramp to pick up the baggage. I had
both bags in my hands within a couple of minutes, amazing! Then to the TAXI
stand down, around and out, picked it up in about 2 minutes flat and now had
about 45 minutes to make the drive to Gare Austerlitz to catch our train south
to St. Amand. The TRAFFIC on the ring road was haltingly crowded, slow and
frustrating as we watched our minutes grind away.
Alas, We missed our train by 2 minutes! Damnit! So...find a
seat and sort out what we do next. Another train, another journey. So Kelly
sat at the café, had a sparking Pelegrino water while I went around the corner
to find the ticket agents...which, of course, were MOSTLY at lunch. I was in
back of a line (rehearsing my French Train Talk “je vous dre au tran a St.
Amand...”) of 49 souls shifting their weight from left to right...I was number
50. Half an hour and 4 train departures later they well fed and now happily at
work mavens of the trains returned from Lunch. 40, 39, 38...10, 9, 8...3,2,1
and I was off to get a ticket to somewhere. Asking for a train to St. Amand
Montrond brought back “that has 2 train changes...do you want THAT?” in perfect
English, “No thank you, ah...what else is there?, how about Verizon?” She
replied “Yes, today at 3:52, do you want that?” “Sure”, I said, knowing our
friends Sue and Dave were all lined up to meet us at St. Amand Montrond...it
would mean the FIRST French phone call from my new Cellularabroad” cell phone.
I was worried. I am NOT a friend of telephones, much less the damned cell phone
variety. It was going to be a TEST. She printed the ticket, wished me “Bon
Voyage” and I went back to Kelly with the news. I then called Sue and Dave just
as the train announcer person began babbling ever so loudly so that I could not
hear anything coming from the cell phone. Eventually the message got through
and we would be met in Verizon instead at 5:16. I had a draft beer and we
whiled our way for the ensuing two and a half hours sitting in the café people
watching.
The train of our dreams arrived from wherever it came from on
Track 5 and we drove our LUGgage (I do mean LUG) to car No.5 and put the bags
aboard with the Kats and took a seat near the rear of the car. Within 10
minutes a young couple approached and pointed to our seats and, of course, found
out they were THEIRS...so this is 2nd class RESERVED? Hmmmm. So we moved to the
center to the car to seats 31A and 31B as indicated. We arrived at Verizon
after several naps of varying length, none to exceed 10 minutes. Now, the REAL
TEST...Verizon’s tracks are located through a tunnel with 25 steps required down
and a similar number up into the main platform. The BIG BAG...50lbs – 1lb was
first and I carried down and came back for the next...a light weight at 40 lbs
and then the Kats, and another bag so Kelly could not have to try to balance on
those narrow and dangerous stairs with too much weight to bear. She still had
her backpack and another bag on top of it all. Once down we trundled the 50
feet underground to the stairs and ramp on the end towards the station and I
repeated the efforts on that end. Now I was exhausted, done, finished and
through. A few minutes of rest and then to the station and our friends
faithfully waiting for us, such a joy to see them! They then drove us to
Lignieres and our Maison Blanc to find rest, a beer or two and a
bed...Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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