Monday, May 28, 2007
Paris
Monday: Bonjour from Paris.
Ray and I have just traveled from Interlaken, Switzerland to Paris, by way of high-speed TGV train. Halfway through the trip, we had to transfer to another train, and Ray was pessimistic about our ability to find the correct platform to make our connection. I kept telling Ray that if my mother could figure out the Swiss trains, then I certainly could, too!
Of course, we didn’t have much time to read the posted schedules, and the ticket didn’t have anything resembling a track number! So, shy person that I am, I banged and banged on the window of a small booth until a nice young gal came out and told us to go down along the platform and turn right to number 10.
It sounded simple but we had to drag everything up an escalator and along an overpass then down an elevator….and halfway there Ray said, “Do you think she sent us to the wrong place?” Oh yeah, that was helpful, as I looked at my watch and hoped that Swiss people were still as precise as they were 30 years ago.
We found the train….and …fortunately, some American guy helped us locate “Coach 3”. The Swiss guys in uniforms just didn’t understand what we were looking for.
Anyway, happy ending:
We found our Paris hotel (after schlepping along quite a ways in the rain). We dried off. Then we went to Ray’s favorite patisserie to get crème horns (pastry with whipped cream and sliced strawberries). Life is good. Looking forward to tomorrow! The forecast is, “No Rain!”
Ray and I have just traveled from Interlaken, Switzerland to Paris, by way of high-speed TGV train. Halfway through the trip, we had to transfer to another train, and Ray was pessimistic about our ability to find the correct platform to make our connection. I kept telling Ray that if my mother could figure out the Swiss trains, then I certainly could, too!
Of course, we didn’t have much time to read the posted schedules, and the ticket didn’t have anything resembling a track number! So, shy person that I am, I banged and banged on the window of a small booth until a nice young gal came out and told us to go down along the platform and turn right to number 10.
It sounded simple but we had to drag everything up an escalator and along an overpass then down an elevator….and halfway there Ray said, “Do you think she sent us to the wrong place?” Oh yeah, that was helpful, as I looked at my watch and hoped that Swiss people were still as precise as they were 30 years ago.
We found the train….and …fortunately, some American guy helped us locate “Coach 3”. The Swiss guys in uniforms just didn’t understand what we were looking for.
Anyway, happy ending:
We found our Paris hotel (after schlepping along quite a ways in the rain). We dried off. Then we went to Ray’s favorite patisserie to get crème horns (pastry with whipped cream and sliced strawberries). Life is good. Looking forward to tomorrow! The forecast is, “No Rain!”
# posted by Ray and Tina Gregoire @ 12:59 PM 
