I was scheduled to work today until about noon. However, my task of completing some assessments of student's language level was completed early which meant that I could go home and be able to see James before he left for work.
I arrived at the train station and found the next train headed to Chartres. Depending on the time of day there are options of a more direct train or the ones with multiple stops. As it happened to be midday (and not a high commute time of day) this train was one with multiple stops.
The train left Paris and I was quickly all up in my Kindle reading my latest book. The train made it’s first stop at Versailles and then we stopped at Rambouillet. As the train is becoming more familiar to me I pay less attention to the stops and the people coming and going.
After still being at the stop at Rambouillet after a few moments I realized that we still hadn’t departed for the next location. I started to look around and quickly realized no one else was on the train, which was pretty strange. I continued to look around and remembered that a few moments earlier a woman that was getting off the train may or may not have been speaking to me “Madame, blah blah blah.” I had not paid attention because I had no reason to think someone was speaking to me. I got out of the train and found the nearest SNCF (railroad company) employee. In French, I asked if he spoke English, which he didn’t. I then reverted to simply saying “Chartres,” to which he pointed in a direction and spoke to me in French (ah buddy, did you not just figure out 2 seconds ago that I don’t speak French all that well, or did you think I just wanted to speak in English to you for fun?)!
I followed in the direction of all of the other people. I heard a gentleman ask another person about Chartres and figured he was headed to the same spot as me so I kept following him. The next thing I know I am outside of the train station and looking at groups of buses. I again attempt to find out more information and approached another SNCF employee. He again pointed towards the buses and gave some direction in French. I approached the 2 buses and saw signs, one that said “Omnibus Chartres” and the other “Direct Chartres.” I figured that the direct Chartres must be me. I boarded the bus and said a little prayer that I was about to head in the right direction.
I quickly text James to fill him in on the my little “situation” and let him know that if he got a SOS call in the next 30 minutes that he would know that his wife was somewhere between Paris and Chartres and needing to be rescued.
The bus left Rambouillet and I attempted to watch the signs to see if we appeared to be heading in the right direction. The windows of the bus were pretty fogged up so I wasn’t so successful in gaining reassurance of this. However, I was momentarily soothed into my younger years with some “red, red wine” playing over the radio. Yeah, that’s right folks, no one speaks English in this little situation but ALL of the music on the radio is in English.
After about 30 minutes I was able to see some familiar sights and realized that I was in fact headed for home and in some miraculous way had boarded the correct bus. The bus took us right to the train station and I then did my routine 10-minute walk home. I still have ab-so-lute-ly no idea why I had to get off the train and get on a bus. I guess it will just stay a little mystery.
 |
| The bus upon arrival in Chartres |
We all feel a little sigh of relief to make it home at the end of our workday. This however brings on a whole new meaning of that. I don’t think I was ever more excited to be home from work and see James than I was today.
No comments:
Post a Comment