An Adventure.....

So much has happened in the last two days, my weekends are full to the
brim and spilling outward! I can't begin to mop up the remains, but I
will do my best.
Friday morning, Megan and I left the Fiap super early to catch the
metro to the Train station. We were walking there at five a.m. in the
darkness, all bundled up. We got to one of the metro stops, only to
find it barred off, still closed for the day. Very dismayed, Megan
pulled out a Paris guide and quoted a page in the middle, "Most metro
lines do not open until 6 am! Some start earlier at 5:30." Our train
was scheduled to leave Paris at 5:57 am! We couldn't wait until 6am,
and we had no money to call a taxi. Our decision was to walk to the
metro stop up the way, which was connected to a major line, to see if
it opened earlier. Yes! It was running, but we missed getting on the
metro train by just seconds! Ahhh, waiting on the platform for the
next one, I kept checking my watch, sweating, only 25 minutes to
spare! Soon, another train came in, we jumped on and went our three
stops to the connection. The second that train stopped, I was out the
door, racing through the station like a wild animal, taking the
escalator up two at a time, barely seeing the directions to the next
train. We made it to the platform, caught our breath and took that
metro one stop to the station. There, we raced to the big screen to
look up our "Voie" or "Lane" that our train out of Paris left from.
More running in the huge crowd to get on with only four minutes to
spare! Talk about major stress in traveling. We had almost given up on
going and yet we found ourselves speeding out of Paris on the TGV to
Marseille, singing Hallelujahs at six in the morning and wiping our
wet brows.
The train ride took two hours to Lyon, with a two hour layover in that
city. We wandered around in the morning mist, the local library and
shops in the mall all still closed at 8am. Mostly we just sat around,
dazed, until our next train took us onward to Marseille. Lots of on
and on, pulling out our rail passes for conductors and listening to
our IPODS. Oh, and sleeping, because we'd only gotten about five hours
the past night.
As we approached our destination of Marseille on the southern coast of
France, we stopped many times, and one of the stops was
Aix-en-Provence train station. WHAT! we gasped! This is where we'd
originally planned to go, but the train wouldn't go direct. Off we
hopped, even though we weren't scheduled to depart. To our surprise,
the "gare" or train station was NOT in the city, but in the
countryside, outside of the city. And the station, though
medium-sized, lacked an information desk. I asked the woman selling
magazines where the buses were, "Downstairs" she implied in french.
Megan and I, bewildered, waited under a busy overpass next to the
train station. As I munched on some lunch, she was started to panic
and giggle. She became convinced that we should have stayed on our
train, and that now we were stranded forever. I kept thinking that
there was no way a bus would stop on this freeway/underpass. Twice, we
walked back inside, but finally out of nowhere a bus pulled up, headed
to the town of Aix (pronounced x). YES! We got on and enjoyed the
ride, watching sheep, fields and a lake pass by. Entering the city, we
were again startled. It was not an old, charming town, but a bustling,
dirty little city, full of ugly modern buildings and traffic! An
american girl on the bus overheard us talking, and kindly showed us
where the "old" town was located a few blocks away. If she had not
come to our rescue, I'm afraid we would not have had a very good day
at all!
After getting a map from the tourism office, we wandered around the
romantic narrow streets, taking pictures of the "old" buildings, and
pretty cafes. This was the Aix we had pictured in our heads! Quaint
and charming, full of character and fountains. We also found a mexican
restaurant hidden away from one of the main walks, and ate lunch
there. It wasn't quite right, I think they used curry seasoning, but
it was very close, as close you as you can get in FRANCE to mexican!
Can't wait to come home and have a real mexican burrito....anyway. We
spent about three hours just wandering the narrow streets, until we
figured we'd better take the bus back the station and go to Marseille
while the sun was still shining.

Back at the train station, we realized our error. We did not have a
ticket to go to Marseille now. Ours had been for our morning train
only. Now, all the trains coming through required "reservations" to
get on and our student pass was not sufficient. We stood, fretting, on
the platform, watching train after train stop and then head on to
Marseille. Finally, we just made a snap decision to jump on one, and
hope the conductor would not check our tickets. Luck was on our side!
It was only a fifteen minute ride and we arrived! This was much later
in the day- now close to 3:30 or 4, and the sun was already setting.
This city was MUCH bigger than Aix, and we could barley see the ocean
glinting in the distance from the hill where the station sat. As tired
as the two of us were, there was no way that we could walk there and
back in two and half hours with no map. We decided to wander about the
closer neighborhoods, instead, cameras in hand. It was similar to
Paris, the streets were full of busy traffic and there was graffiti on
some of the buildings; it smelled, men and women stared at us. We
didn't care for it as much as we thought we would- sound familiar?
Megan kept reminiscing about Honfleur and I said, "Let's just keep
walking." Things began looking less sketchy. We found a small park and
then a pretty little cathedral (St. Paul Vincent?) and relaxed in the
dark, deserted interior for at least half an hour. Although we could
still hear the noise of the city, it felt peaceful. Sunlight shone
through the intricate stain glass windows and spread rainbow patterns
on the walls. We decided after that we'd had ENOUGH! Although we
missed seeing the Roman temples, the white cliffs of France and the
Marseille harbor, we were happy just watching the sunset from the
train station, baguette in hand (and mouth). On our much faster and
direct ride back to Paris, I watched the people around me, a worried
looking middle aged woman, and a spoiled young teenager....a young
couple in love talking animatedly to each other, an old man reading
and solving puzzles. It was fun to just imagine what their lives were
like.

I'm so glad that Megan and I visited southern France, even though we
were a little ill-prepared, and it wasn't what we thought it would be!
Now, at least I can add those cities to my list of "visited" and also
learn valuable lessons about planning and traveling! It was a fun
adventure!
I hope you enjoyed this little episode from my european life! I should
write more, I know, but I'm so tired from this life, I sleep instead
of write!