I've been trying to be a big girl and use my French, but it is really hard when you just don't know the vocabulary for things. But truly, I've been trying.
I even spoke to the hotel receptionist at Ibis and got my key in French! Yay.
Despite being kind of tired, I ended up waking up around 2h30 and spent the next two hours fading in and out while my nerves were strained about my trek from Paris to Limoges.
I got out of bed around 4h20 and straightened up my suitcases a little before going to breakfast.
The receptionist didn't mention where breakfast would be, so it took me a few minutes to find it. There was also no one there who checked my info to make sure I had paid for it, so I'm wondering if I could have gotten away with it for free. Darn it.
The food was excellent though! I had a piece of baguette, pain au chocolat, a small piece of cheese, orange juice, and a strawberry yogurt. I was so nervous about not looking dumb that I completely walked by the trays and silverware, and then had to ask someone where they found theirs. There went that plan.
From there I grabbed my luggage from the room and checked out. While I was sure that I knew where I was going, I decided to ask how to get to Gare'Austerlitz. This took up some of my precious time and I ended up being right after all. Now it was time to find the RER B entrance.
Turns out, the entrance to RER B is a SNCF train entrance. After I realized this, I bought one ticket and had to use up my coins because the automated dispenser didn't accept paper cash or American cards (no chip).
I slide the ticket in no problem and the doors open after I take the ticket back out. I start walking through, and then I stop... Because my luggage is too wide to get through the space. I start pulling and yanking, and suddenly the large purple carry-on bag detaches from the big black one! So I pull the black one through and WHAM the doors shut.
Excuse my "French," but I'm pretty sure I said "well, fuck."
Fortunately the ticket lets me back through.
Unfortunately, it won't let me use it again after that.
So now I don't have enough coins and no chip-in-pin cards to buy a ticket, all the billeteries (ticket booths with actual people) are still closed, and 2/3 of my luggage is out of my grasp, one of those bags being my actual carry-on duffel that has all my documents, laptop, and the sweater and bison that Wesley had given me. Obviously I was determined to get it back, not to mention that I had to get to the train station for my 6h42 train!
I start asking every person that comes by for help. It's funny because when you ask if they speak English they say "ouai" (yeah), but then I start talking in English they get confused, or they start speaking really quickly in French. So I try English with broken French. Still doesn't work. One guy was okay at speaking English, but he didn't have any coin money to trade me.
By this point I'm freaking out. Fortunately, the first train has stopped and let people off, so some people come up from the metro and look at my bags funny. I rush to the first person who comes through the doors and ask if she speaks English. She doesn't, but she points towards the luggage and asks something about needing to get through to the train. I say yes and she swipes her Navigo pass. HALLELUJAH! Thank you so much, random French lady.
I get my stuff situated again (I'm so glad the straps didn't break!) and head to the stairs to begin my descent.
Each step was agony. And loud.
I finally reach the bottom and there's a train just hanging out. I rush to get on it with all my stuff and sit down. And wait.
..Still waiting. What? Metros run all the time so this was really strange.
Finally some guy comes up and starts spurting French at me about train and Paris. I obviously look lost so he breaks it down to: You. Train. Paris? Apparently I needed to be waiting on the other side of the track to get on the next train. Whoops.
I get on, settle down, and all is good. I get to my stop and get all my stuff off no problem, and follow the signs for the metro to Gare d'Austerlitz. Of course, to get to this next stop, I have to get a new ticket and there are once again the stupid small metro doors. The time, however, a gentleman calls out to me and shows me a large glass door to the right of the small ones. YES!
I go through it and up to the ticket counter (thank goodness at least these are open) and buy my next ticket, and before I leave the cashier lets me know there is a large door I can use to get through. That's totally cool with me!
The wonderful thing about the metro is that 1)They're on time, and 2) They have electric time tables so you can see how many minutes before the train will arrive.
I get on no problem and it is just a matter of time before I'm at the last stop. I jump off with some other people and...wait, this wasn't the last stop. Crap.
I turn around to get back on and the siren sounds for the doors to close. Too late for me to get on, I keep telling myself it will be fine and another train will come. I look up and the next train won't arrive for 7 minutes, the exact time my train leaves the station. Greeeaaaaat.
Maybe today will be the first time the trains are running late?! Ha. A girl can dream.
Finally the next train arrives and I get to the stop I needed. Now, to find the right exit. The map by les sorties says there's 5 of them, and I need number 5. I go up and down different corridors, but all I see are exits 1-4! I ask some people but I don't think they knew either. I give up and speak to the next cashier in a ticket booth I come across, who doesn't speak English. I ask him in my best broken French, "Où est la sortie pour l'entrance (I forgot the word "entrée") de la gare d'Austerlitz?" He says to take the exit and go left, or something like that.
Turns out, the train station on the side I come up is a little sketchy looking at 6:45 in the morning. I just keep walking and find myself literally in the train station all of the sudden; it just opens up with giant archways and ahead are the trains.
As I had guessed, my train was gone.
I hadn't had wifi since I left the hotel. There was no way for me to email anyone that I was going to be late, and I didn't know what I was going to do if there wasn't another train for several hours. What was I going to do if there wasn't another train until the next day?
I kept it together while I inquired with the information booth just to make sure it had left; I held it in as I walked to the ticket booths, but as soon as I was at the queue, I lost it and cried as I walked up to the gentleman behind the desk. He was very nice and gently told me that I couldn't get a refund or exchange for my ticket, which I already knew. The good news was that there was another train in just an hour, but it was 59€. I didn't care and bought it. I was just relieved to be an hour late rather than be stuck at the station all day. "Everything is good now." He said, smiling. Well, it wasn't good, but it was better.
Since I had about an hour before my new train arrived, I sat at the café out by the tracks. I wanted to order some tea, but no one came by. I kept looking around for a waiter, and finally I saw someone approach a group of people a few tables away. After several more minutes, a waiter came by to see me and I was able to get my tea!
While I sipped and felt myself calming down, I kept an eye on all the boards with the train departures. A big sign below the boards says that la voie (the rail) would appear next to the train no later than 20 minutes before the train arrived.
Lies!
I watched and waited for the next train's voie to show up, and it didn't until 2 minutes after the departure time.
My train's voie showed up just 7-10 minutes before the departure time, and thankfully it was right in front of me. I quickly walked down le quai (platform) to my train car, and then had the joy of meeting my mortal enemy once again: small doors. WHYYYYYYYY?
Fortunately there was a gentleman who got on before me and he helped me get everything in. Then I got to struggle pulling the luggage between the seats, which was just as small as the doors! Finally the guy took pity on me and hoisted it to the luggage space above the seats. In those few minutes, I probably thanked him like, a thousand times.
The train actually took off 5 minutes early, which I thought was a little unfair incase anyone was running late (like me), but oh well. I was on the train and that's all that mattered at this point.
I start asking every person that comes by for help. It's funny because when you ask if they speak English they say "ouai" (yeah), but then I start talking in English they get confused, or they start speaking really quickly in French. So I try English with broken French. Still doesn't work. One guy was okay at speaking English, but he didn't have any coin money to trade me.
By this point I'm freaking out. Fortunately, the first train has stopped and let people off, so some people come up from the metro and look at my bags funny. I rush to the first person who comes through the doors and ask if she speaks English. She doesn't, but she points towards the luggage and asks something about needing to get through to the train. I say yes and she swipes her Navigo pass. HALLELUJAH! Thank you so much, random French lady.
I get my stuff situated again (I'm so glad the straps didn't break!) and head to the stairs to begin my descent.
Each step was agony. And loud.
I finally reach the bottom and there's a train just hanging out. I rush to get on it with all my stuff and sit down. And wait.
..Still waiting. What? Metros run all the time so this was really strange.
Finally some guy comes up and starts spurting French at me about train and Paris. I obviously look lost so he breaks it down to: You. Train. Paris? Apparently I needed to be waiting on the other side of the track to get on the next train. Whoops.
I get on, settle down, and all is good. I get to my stop and get all my stuff off no problem, and follow the signs for the metro to Gare d'Austerlitz. Of course, to get to this next stop, I have to get a new ticket and there are once again the stupid small metro doors. The time, however, a gentleman calls out to me and shows me a large glass door to the right of the small ones. YES!
I go through it and up to the ticket counter (thank goodness at least these are open) and buy my next ticket, and before I leave the cashier lets me know there is a large door I can use to get through. That's totally cool with me!
The wonderful thing about the metro is that 1)They're on time, and 2) They have electric time tables so you can see how many minutes before the train will arrive.
I get on no problem and it is just a matter of time before I'm at the last stop. I jump off with some other people and...wait, this wasn't the last stop. Crap.
I turn around to get back on and the siren sounds for the doors to close. Too late for me to get on, I keep telling myself it will be fine and another train will come. I look up and the next train won't arrive for 7 minutes, the exact time my train leaves the station. Greeeaaaaat.
Maybe today will be the first time the trains are running late?! Ha. A girl can dream.
Finally the next train arrives and I get to the stop I needed. Now, to find the right exit. The map by les sorties says there's 5 of them, and I need number 5. I go up and down different corridors, but all I see are exits 1-4! I ask some people but I don't think they knew either. I give up and speak to the next cashier in a ticket booth I come across, who doesn't speak English. I ask him in my best broken French, "Où est la sortie pour l'entrance (I forgot the word "entrée") de la gare d'Austerlitz?" He says to take the exit and go left, or something like that.
Turns out, the train station on the side I come up is a little sketchy looking at 6:45 in the morning. I just keep walking and find myself literally in the train station all of the sudden; it just opens up with giant archways and ahead are the trains.
As I had guessed, my train was gone.
I hadn't had wifi since I left the hotel. There was no way for me to email anyone that I was going to be late, and I didn't know what I was going to do if there wasn't another train for several hours. What was I going to do if there wasn't another train until the next day?
I kept it together while I inquired with the information booth just to make sure it had left; I held it in as I walked to the ticket booths, but as soon as I was at the queue, I lost it and cried as I walked up to the gentleman behind the desk. He was very nice and gently told me that I couldn't get a refund or exchange for my ticket, which I already knew. The good news was that there was another train in just an hour, but it was 59€. I didn't care and bought it. I was just relieved to be an hour late rather than be stuck at the station all day. "Everything is good now." He said, smiling. Well, it wasn't good, but it was better.
Since I had about an hour before my new train arrived, I sat at the café out by the tracks. I wanted to order some tea, but no one came by. I kept looking around for a waiter, and finally I saw someone approach a group of people a few tables away. After several more minutes, a waiter came by to see me and I was able to get my tea!
While I sipped and felt myself calming down, I kept an eye on all the boards with the train departures. A big sign below the boards says that la voie (the rail) would appear next to the train no later than 20 minutes before the train arrived.
Lies!
I watched and waited for the next train's voie to show up, and it didn't until 2 minutes after the departure time.
My train's voie showed up just 7-10 minutes before the departure time, and thankfully it was right in front of me. I quickly walked down le quai (platform) to my train car, and then had the joy of meeting my mortal enemy once again: small doors. WHYYYYYYYY?
Fortunately there was a gentleman who got on before me and he helped me get everything in. Then I got to struggle pulling the luggage between the seats, which was just as small as the doors! Finally the guy took pity on me and hoisted it to the luggage space above the seats. In those few minutes, I probably thanked him like, a thousand times.
The train actually took off 5 minutes early, which I thought was a little unfair incase anyone was running late (like me), but oh well. I was on the train and that's all that mattered at this point.
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