After finishing my time in London, I took the train into Paris and finally got to put my French into practice! I took a taxi [first time I've actually done that in Paris) so it was fun to finally see the things I couldn't wait for. I made it to St Lazare and bought my ticket to Bayoux and jumped on the train. Now..I thought I would be smart and beat the crowd so I jumped on one of the back cars only to find out it was le premier classe and I most definitely didn't have that ticket, but because I was on the trai I didn't want to get off in case it started to take off so I just dragged my bags all the way to "2e classe" and grabbed the first open room. I was sitting by myself for probably about 10 minutes until a kid, maybe 17 or 18, walked by and saw me but continued on and then a minute later walked right back and sat down across from me. Maybe about 10 minutes later another guy joined us and as soon as the train took off you could tell there was a.."bubble" in the air because we all were "talkers" and wanted to say something but nobody budged. So, maybe about an hour in a half into the trip the younger kid walked out to use the restroom so it was me and the other guy, but one of the train workers joined us in our room because he was friends with this "other guy" [Unfortunately, French culture says it's "impolite" to ask for someone's name right from the beginning, so I'm going to have to use "Young" and "Other"] and after a minute or two the train worker walked out also, so the other guy asked if I had my charger because he saw my iPhone and I said yeah of course and grabbed mine and gave it to him. He instantly saw my plug and knew I was American and then, just like that, the bubble popped.
He started asking me questions and we got to talking about differences between America and France, then shortly the young kid joined us again and found us talking so you could see him lok at ease finally so he found out I was from the US so that meant more questions from him..and then like a comic strip, the train worker walked in and found out I was from L'Etats-Unis so more questions came! So by now I was sort of getting back in the groove of speaking French and trying to listen and all the good stuff. But then came the point for the other guy to leave for his stop so it was just me and the young kid and we talked for maybe 30 minutes about random things but then we reached my stop and wasn't paying attention and so he tells me in English "you better hurry the train doesn't wait long" so I grab all my stuff and run to the door...it doesn't open...OF COURSE! I run to the other end of the car..grab the handle and halfway open the door and the bloody train starts leaving..lovely. I walk back and the train worker sees me: "you didn't make it?" [wasn't in the mood to be sarcastic, so I said yes] and he told me I needed to get off at the next stop and turn around so I just went to the first open car..again [because you know that I'm not going back to the young kid and look like a complete idiot]. Finally, I make it to the next stop which felt like forever, I get off the train and this little old woman comes up to me because she saw me miss my stop and she starts talking to me to help me figure my way so she points me in the right direction and now it is just a waiting game. Luckily, the French rail system is amazing with trains very often so I maybe waited 20 minutes for the next one. So again, I didn't want to miss the train so I jumped in the first care this time closer to the front of the train but yet again it was 1st class! So I just stood near the door so I could get out as fast as possible when the train stopped.
Finally I made it to Bayoux, and I made it to my hotel [Churchill Hotel] which has been a lovely stay in a lovely town.
Great train story. The Churchill looks pretty cool!
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