Well as Andrew mentioned we arrived in France with few
mishaps, except getting the public transit a little mixed up.
Which…let me explain…has continued on
multiple times throughout the rest of the trip.
We have been here three days and have without exception taken the wrong
train at least twice each day—some days up to six times in one day.
On the happy note, it does suggest that we
are getting our moneys worth out of our tickets, and we are getting to know the
nice trains from the not so nice trains.
The first day we went into Paris
we essentially would jump on one train go a
stop and hope it was in the right direction, and if it wasn’t, we would
get off on the next stop and proceed to the other side of the platform.
The second day we thought we had the system
figured out, and I think we had only taken the wrong train once, when alas, as
we were deciding to go home, we didn’t realize that the words “sans arret”
applied to the train we were taking and that it meant…this train will not stop
at your station, you will pass go, and you will have to take another train
home…
To those who haven’t been to France, this probably seems
absurd, I mean after all, if you have been to New York or DC, it seems as
though Metro stations are essentially easy to manage….you would be wrong. The French have as many Metro types of
transport as they have cheese. There are
the slow and trainlike, the RER, the Train, the Tram, the subway, and all of
these are mashed together in a semblance of numbers, letters, names, (which I
might add are in French) and they are in train stations which are three layers
deep, and more. The trains do not have
markings on them as far as we can tell, and it is pointless to ask someone on
the train where it is going, (Andrew might say that is because we can’t speak
French—I think its because they don’t know where the train is going
either.)
Today was a bit rainy and gloomy, so after a quick sojourn into the city (three
hours or so) we decided to head home and just chill out…two hours later we
arrived at our intended station…it was a long long long day.
The grocery store, that is an experience all right. The thing about Europe
is they are more environmentally and economically friendly. So you don’t get plastic bags at the grocery
store unless you pay for them. The cost
in Ireland is 22 cents, the
cost in France
we are not sure about. So this leaves
you with the option of gesticulating wildly and pretending to be a bag, so that
you get one, or else if you miss your opportunity, carrying three bottles, a
box of milk, a candy bar, a round of cheese, a jug of water and potato chips
all the way home. (Which isn’t really that far, but the picture isn’t as cool
when you say it that way). The second time
we went to the grocery store, we didn’t realize that if you get fruit or
vegetables, you are supposed to weigh them and put a sticker on them with the
weight and price. Well we were in the front of a long line, and the cashier
looks at me and says something in French…as I give a very Gaelic shrug and
apologetic smile of idiocy, she just turns to the guy who works in the front of
the store and asks him to go get our sticker.
I’ve noticed the look of absolute lack of comprehension works pretty
well…that and pointing.
One other thing that is very amusing to me, is that the
toilets (which I don’t know if Andrew has mentioned this, but they are far
superior to the Irish) have two buttons labeled 1 and 2…and they are used
accordingly. One produces a smaller stream than the other.
The people we are staying with, Valerie and Benoit are
amazing. Really great, they host people
all the time and they seem to enjoy the conversation and provide excellent
suggestions and of course laugh at our inability to find our way around. But they are making Paris just an amazing place to visit. Yesterday we visited the Notre Dame Cathedral
(which is even more astonishing in light of when it was built), and the Musee
d’ Orsay which is inside of an old train station, and possibly the most
beautiful of all museums I have ever seen.
Other than that, we have generally just been getting lost on old street,
and enjoying the beauty that is paris. Different than what I expected, but really
really beautiful. I didn’t expect it to
be so large, (it seems larger than New York, although I don’t know)—there is
grafitti everywhere when coming into the city, but the people are nice, the
cheese and bread are great, and we are having a wonderful time. You can see how such architecture and ambience
leads to a different feel of life.
