Trains, Plains, And A Lack Of An Automobile
10:08 AM
Saturday was yet another day of traveling, but this time we were heading to Zach's friend Cassey's hotel instead of to a new host. We've had rainy days on every travel day so far, so maybe it was the difference in hosts that made the sun shine.
As is tradition, we went out for dinner and drinks the night before and had far too many laughs and drinks with our host Kerry. So our long day was started with a bit of a hangover at 7:32 am. But we found a way to get up and be ready for when Kerry picked us up at 8 am to make the 8:35 train at Beziers station. I had one last cuddle with Oscar in the car before we said our goodbyes (but promising to return!) and headed into the station. Something about our tickets made us special, so we were personally escorted onto the train where we had our ticket QR codes scanned (yeah, fancy!) and ushered to our seats to settle in for the four hour ride.
Train number one took us from Beziers into Paris, and once we were there we had our first challenge of the day: taking the Paris metro to a different train station across the city. But don't worry, not only had we planned our route ahead of time but when our orignal route was partially closed due to service, we used our New York skills to read the map and make a different connection to our destination. You'll have to do better to slow us down, Paris!
So our adventure down in the metro took us on train number two and three, and onwards to train number four from Paris to Le Mans. This train was only an hour long, but it seemed so quick compared to our morning train (5 hours) coupled with the fact that the train was speeding through the countryside. We encountered our first extremely grumpy french lady as she seemed to morally object to Winry riding the train with us. When she saw us get on and sit across from her, she quickly changed seats to the opposite aisle, then deciding that wasn't quite far enough retreated back to a seat at the end of the cabin. If you think this was coincidence, know that these trains have assigned seating so she wasn't technically allowed to move. I almost wanted the conductor to come by so I could hear her excuse, but as we've found with quite a few of our trains, no one came to check our tickets.
A short stop in Le Mans and we changed trains to bring our total to five. This train was barely a blip, but it gave Zach time to mull over my proposal: That we save money and hassle on a taxi and walk from Evron to our friend Cassey's hotel in Saint Suzanne. The towns are exactly 7.7 km away (5.2 miles for you keeping track at home), 1 hour and 36 minutes by walking according to Google, and connected by one straight, slightly hilly road, D7. If this sounds leisurely, remember we're carrying our 25-30 lb bags and walking with a dog. We arrived in Ervon and Zach turned to me, "Let's do it."
We stopped off at a park bench to sort our backpacks to make for the most comfortable carrying, clipped all sorts of buckles and tightened a variety of straps. And so we were off.
Things were a little tough at first. Zachs belt kept pinching his stomach hair and my backpack's belt was just about the same height as the waistband of my jeans so you can imagine the chafing. Plus Winry had a constant desire to walk in the middle of the road. But we didn't let it get us down. We adjusted our packs and walked on the side of oncoming traffic so we could pull Winry in when cars came rumbling by.
On our walk we had time to ponder the big questions: When Google determines how long it takes to walk somewhere, what speed would you have to walk to make that time? (Answer here) Do we walk faster than that? Or slower?
We met some goats.
Then scared them away.
And really we couldn't have been having too bad of a time, because here's what we looked like halfway.
Winry met cows, goats and sheep for the first time and was thoroughly confused by all three. She got into a certain growling match with a sheep that baah'd at her, but to be fair it could have said something about her mother. We'll never know.
And we learned the best thing about a straight road is that you can see your destination.
The road brought us straight to the hotel, though to be fair it could have brought us anywhere because Saint Suzanne is tiny. We dropped off our bags in front of the locked and unanswered hotel door and I stood guard as sentry while Zach circled the town to figure out where Cassey could be. Everything in the town was closed and people were walking en masse towards the church at the center, since it was Easter after all. Zach was walking back, defeated with his hands up in the universal "I don't know" sign when he happened to turn and spot Cassey sitting right in the lobby of the hotel! She popped out, hugged him, and ushered us over explaining that when she arrived the owners showed her the room, gave her the keys to the front door and left. A few jokes about Cassey now owning the hotel later and we set off to the castle ourselves, though the crowd had now dissipated.
We walked the perimeter of the place, vowed to come back when the doors to the center were open and went back for a well deserved shower and good night sleep.
Next time we get a taxi.
H W Z
1 comments
Baaaah'd lOl So happy you 3 look amazing and we are so happy to read all the adventures you've been taking! big sheep hugs from us.. be well always xo!
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