7 Trains a-passing...

1 January 2008

With a beginning like this, I don't know where the year will go. For New Year's Eve, I went out for a Feast of St. Sylvestre meal. (du reveillion de Saint Sylvestre.) We had several choices and they had an English "translation" of the menu for which they apologized as they handed it out. I chose "Rollers with salmon, lawyer, and grapefruit" for my starter. Turns out they translated "avocat" as "advocat", so an avocado became a "lawyer." I wasn't really disappointed that it WASN'T lawyer, but I did wonder what it would taste like:-) I also had "Gamba with the Provence One" (Grilled prawns) and "burned cream" (Crème brulee) for dessert.

After dinner we all headed to the Champs Elysees to ring in the New Year. We were within a 100 yards of the Arc de Triumphe and it was crazy. Wall to wall people and still they were shooting off personal fireworks in the street. There was no "event" at midnight, so it kind of rolled in as people's personal watches changed.

When we were done, John and Joke offered to take me to one of the metro stations. They plan was to get on one that would be a direct line for me and they would transfer. I was a bit nervous about changing trains and on the way to the celebration, the trains were PACKED and there was a lot of shoving and pushing one's way through. We walked away from the city central in order to get on a train that would be ahead of the crowds getting on. When we go to the metro station called Argentine there was a train there. John asked the conductor if I could take it to my stop and he said no, I would need to transfer at St. Michel. I had done this with my tour group and I was reasonably certain that I could do it, even with my lack of language. It was definitely a moment of switching plans in an attempt to be flexible that should have SCREAMED don't change to plan B. Joke asked if I wanted them to come along, but I didn't want it to seem like I couldn't handle it.

So at 12:30 am, I am heading back into the city. This train goes right by the Eiffel Tour stop. The train has been fairly empty and calm until that point. Soon there was a platform filled with thousands of folks waiting to get on and they did. I couldn't get up, but fortunately I had a few stops to go before I got off and headed into one of the longest nights of my life!

What follows now is a timeline and thought process, as best I can re-create it that involves the 7 trains a-passing.

12:40ish a.m.-Arrive in St. Michel's station and transfer with the masses down to the B4 line which will stop in Massy-Palalseau. We've been taught how to do this, so we can take it on our own in an emergency. One of the things to know is that the stations where the train will actually STOP are lit up on the board. I get to the platform and look. Masay-Palalseau is not lit. I wait (train 1 goes by) and when it pulls out, I look at the board that is now all lit up. I'm thrilled. 1 train from home, however, about 1 minute before the arrival, most of the lights go out, including M-P. This happens 3 times total. I'm not sure how many more times this will happen, so I go with plan C and decide to go back up to line C and take the one that ends at the same station.

1:30am head up to the C line. (The interesting thing with this unfortunate decision is that the group I was traveling with arrived at St. Michel station around that time and then headed to the platform that I was just leaving.) I got up to the C platform and waited while 2 trains eventually passed that were not stopping at my stop. I decided to go with plan D. I look on the map and find a station that is near my end goal, so I could just wait there for the next train or take a cab home. I get on a train and head out toward Les Ardoines.

2:00am- I take the train, realizing as we stop at stations that the other station was significantly larger. I'm also remembering my commitment/ belief that you should stay with your original plan, but that (of course) is too late.

2:12 am ish- Land on the platform in Les Ardoines. Wait for the next train. See the monitor and realize it doesn't go the way I want it to.

2:21am- next train arrives and, as it pulls out the next screen comes up. Also not an option. I quickly get the attention of a couple who is just leaving the track. I ask if there is a place to get a taxi. The woman tells me no, but explains that I should take the next train to Choisy Le Roi at 2:41am because they will have cabs.

2:38am- the screen changes the status to "supprime." I don't know what this is, but when the train doesn't come and then the screen goes black, I realize I'm in serious trouble. I take the stairs up and over the tracks and head down the other side. As I get to the other side, I think for a moment that I am locked in, but then I find an exit. In the parking lot is a night club. I decide to walk there and ask if someone can help me call a taxi. Before I walk over, I call John and Joke to tell them were I am or if they can send a cab to me. I call and get the voicemail and realize I may be in even more trouble. I do leave a message about where I am, just in case.

2:50am As I approach the club, I ask the first intoxicated man outside the door if he speaks English and if he can help me get a taxi. I get a VERY blank stare and no help so I went on to the next person who looked to me like he could be the bouncer. I asked if he spoke English. I used my phrase sheet to say that I needed a taxi. I asked if he could call. Finally, he held up his hand to me indicating that I should stay there and then went inside. He came back out and motioned for me to come in and told me to go to the bar. I asked the bartender if he spoke English, I asked for a taxi, I made the motion for a phone. The bartender was delivering drinks to a crowded room filled to the gills with loud music and North African inhabitants. He finally indicated for me to go to the end of the bar. I walked down and waited. Then he indicated I should go outside and pointed toward the road. I understood him to mean that I should go there to wait for a taxi or that he would call me one. As I walked to the road, I saw a taxi drive by. I tried to signal it, but was too late. I figured since I saw a taxi and this is where he told me to go, this was a hopeful sign. I stood and waited for the next taxi to come so I could flag it down.

3:15am- I am now cold and still outside. A young Muslim woman comes out of the club to use the pay phone that I now realize is near me. I wait until she is done and convince her to call information and then call me a taxi. It takes her 3 phone calls, 2 wrong numbers, calling information back and yelling at them, talking to the taxi company, then telling me that they will be here in 10 minutes. I had shown her the LIFESAVING card with the address of our hotel on it and she had communicated that to the company also. Great. Now I just have to wait for the cab, but I am starting to feel hopeful. There are several men coming in and out of the club. They are using the grass near me to relieve themselves and occasionally they try to talk to me. I find out they are from North Africa, they now live there, do I want a drink?, do I want to go with them, etc.

3:40am-No cab. I now decide to try the hotel to ask them to send a cab to me. I don't have many minutes left on my cell phone. I tell the hotel man that I am a guest in the hotel and spell the name of the station that I am at. He can't recognize my pronunciation. I realize I've spelled it wrong. I respell. I ask him to call me a cab and he says he'll try, but it's New Year's Eve and he's not hopeful.

3:45am-I am very tired, stressed, cold, etc. and I realize that it is time to call for help from someone who will care that I am missing. I call back to the hotel and ask for Randy and Claine's room. I don't want to bother Michelle because she has had to be responsible for all the kids. I call and ask for their room, explaining that I only have a few minutes left on my cell phone. The hotel man is trying to take my number and at the same time saying Randy's name to look him up. Randy gets on the phone immediately. I tell him that I only have a couple minutes of talk time. I tell him to write down the name of the station and that I have been there for a long time. I ask him to get a cab and have either he or Claine come get me. I hang up and wait.

4:00am- There is an explosion of screaming and yelling. There are bottles being broken. There are about 20 men fighting in the parking lot outside the nightclub. My goal...remain inconspicuous. I'm staying by the road and not looking toward the commotion, but still keeping an eye on it. Eventually, it settles down and most of them go back inside.

4:15am-a man from the club approaches me. He wants to know where I'm from. I'm not really trying to be overly polite. He offers to buy me a drink inside. I tell him that I have a friend on the way and that I'm waiting for him. Inside, I'm convincing myself that it would take just as long for them to find a taxi on New Year's morning as me. The man continues to talk to me, I continue to answer in the most "I don't want to keep talking to you voice" that I can. Eventually, he goes back to his friends and, while I couldn't understand or hear, my impression was that he lost the dare by not getting me to come inside.

4:35am- I see a taxi approach that slows at the train station parking lot. I see the door open and Randii get out. I don't know if I've ever been that glad to see someone. Michelle and Barbara are in the back seat and, while I'm chagrinned that there are 3 people on the errand to pick my up, I don't actually care at that point anymore!!! On our way back to our hotel, I heard about their night. They actually didn't get back to the hotel until 3:30am, so I couldn't have called them much earlier. They had similar train issues.

5:15am- back in the hotel room. I slept until 9:30 b/c we were meeting at 10:15 to head into Paris for the day.

In Paris, some of the kids went ice skating, some went shopping, and some of us had a nice lunch. We all met up to head back and get ready to catch the night train to Florence. Definitely a New Year's to remember.

Paris in a Day

31 December 2007

Our typical, American, view-the-city-by-bus trip was this morning. We saw the bridges, where Napoleon is buried, the other side of Notre Dame, a 3300 year old obelisk, etc. We were approached by souvenir sellers galore at each stop and there was a bit of competition over who in our group got the best deal. The prevailing deal of the day was 6 Eiffel Tower keychains for 2 Euros. One of the teachers was then trying to "resell" them to the kids as a joke but as he was walking up the aisle another teacher leaned over to me and said, "There's your six for the day."

When we got to the Louvre it was about an hour before I was supposed to meet up with John and Joke. As we were walking by the ticket line, I heard a voice. It was John. I quickly finished up with my group and we met up. Sander had his girlfriend with him, so we walked with the 5 of us through the Louvre to see the "important" pieces. We saw Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo. There were 100s of pieces between and 1000s of people. Afterward we went to a cafe to have lunch. I had a great linguini pasta with cream sauce and salmon on it.

Next we walked toward the shopping district and stopped at a bookstore so I could get Harry Potter book 1 in French. The night before on the boat tour and in the morning we had heard about the "protectors" of the French language. These are the people who write the French dictionary and they are known as "The immortals." When I went to get my Harry Potter book, I noticed that they had a separate Harry Potter French-English dictionary! The Immortals have even gotten to Harry-watch out Voldemort.

After having a cup of coffee, we headed back to John and Joke's hotel room for a quick photo transfer to DVD. It's always good to have a backup of your photos. We also made a New Year's call to my mom. I uploaded my blog from a few days and then we went to dinner.

Training

30 December2007

So we have a tour guide named Ali. She has not been winning major points with the adults on the trip. She's nice enough, but hasn't really impressed us and at times been just bad. Today one of the other adults used the word "ali-ism" which is a really bad move by our tour director. Today's day of Christmas, I bring you 5 Ali Isms

We got up this morning early. We were to be dressed, fed and ready to go by 7:30. Several of us went out to the local pub last night to meet up with the band directors from Muir and Marshall. It was CJ's 30th birthday today and we wanted to celebrate with him, so we toasted him at midnight, then went to bed. It made for a short night. Our whole group was on the bus and ready to go and (Aliism #1) she wasn't. We left almost 20 minutes late (Apparently, she couldn't find her hat) which will become a problem later.

We took the coach from our hotel to the St. Pancras Station. When we got to the station, she gave us extensive directions on how we were going to have time to buy food, etc. and then we walked into the newly constructed station to catch the Eurostar train from London to Paris. As we were walking down the galvanized steel tunnel, Michelle said, "It feels like I'm walking through a garbage shoot."

After we walked into the station a man approached us and asked who our tour leader was and then went to collect the tickets from us. Turns out the train was leaving 1/2 earlier than Ali had thought (Ali-ism #2) so she gave us 10 minutes to run to the little store and grab something to eat. We all took off and were in the store just 2-3 minutes when we were called back. Apparently the man from the railroad said we needed to go through the metal detectors and passport control right then or we might not make it (Ali-ism #3).

It was like going through airport security and then being herded into one big room. This meant that none of our group had the opportunity to buy lunch and the kids would be really hungry later. There was a dining car on the train, but they don't stock lots of food and it was really expensive. There was actually another train loading at the same time that went to Disneyland France. There was a small Disney jazz band playing all your favorite tunes from "Zippity Doo Dah" to "It's a Small World." Ali did not explain to the kids how to actually read the ticket or which track we were leaving from. As we went up the escalator towards the tracks, it became apparent that we were all going to the same platform and would get on the trains at adjoining tracks.

Now Ali has been having major problems leading our group because she doesn't wait at intersections or crosswalks to make sure the group has caught up. We have an anchor person who is very tall, so it would not be a problem for her to wait up to see him. As we get to the top of the track, I have to do a double take to figure out which train we're on--and I've traveled a lot AND I knew what track we were on. (Ali-ism #4) I stopped at the top and just started motioning kids to the right train and showing them where to look for their car and seat number. It probably took 5 minutes for our whole group to get to my point. We all got on the train and were ready to roll.

The train ride was wonderful. The seats were far more comfy than an airplane and, even though I was backwards, I had no motion sickness. In fact, I was so tired that I fell asleep almost instantly and woke up to the announcement that we would be in Paris in 10 minutes. Wow, it was helpful being tired!!

When we got in Paris, we took a coach to our hotel. It's a long way out of city central, but is near a metro stop. We dropped our bags and had about 1/2 hour to get ready for the rest of the day. We walked over to the train station and went in and down a few flights of stairs. I was near the end and by the time I got down, everyone had turned around and was going UP the escalator!!!! This was the priceless moment when Ginny look at me and she and Pauline told me about "Ali-isms." Because this was Ali-ism #5. We then walked back the way we came and then a little further to go to the "real" train station.

We rode the train in and got off near St. Michel's fountain. We then walked over to Notre Dame!! It was beautiful. There was an organ concert/ service going on. We were given some information about the history (it took 200 years to build) and the facades, which have one on the judgment and then one on Mary and St. Anne (Mary's mother). We walked through with the masses (both kinds). One thing that struck me was the plexiglass confessional. Not only was there person sitting across from the priest, but the door was clear and everyone walking by could see in.

We went for dinner to a restaurant called "Flam's." This is also the name of the food we ate. It's a very thin pizza crust/lavash bread. It had cheese and ham and onions on it. (For those with a Trader Joe's nearby, it was the ham and guyere cheese pizza that they have. Now you can call it a "flam.") We then had the same crust with a cheesecake like cheese and chocolate chips or apple. It was delicious. After dinner we took a coach to the river Seine and took a night tout boat ride up the river. It was filled with wonderful views.

Our plan was to go up the Eiffel Tower tonight, but the upper deck was closed because of all the people. We will now do that on New Year's Day. Tomorrow we will have a city tour and I will meet up with John and Joke at the Louvre. I will spend New Year's Eve with them.

The 12 days so far...

1 Warm Coat

2 Delayed Flights

3 Different Tube Lines

4 tour stops

5 Ali Isms