Arriving In Paris France June 2010
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On last Sunday of June, at the crack of dawn we hopped on a bus in Amsterdam bound for Paris. We picked the bus over train because our hotel was right next to a bus station and it was cheaper than riding a train. The ride was nothing to brag about; the bus smelled bad and it broke down in Luxembourg City and they transferred us into another bus that was already waiting for us. The driver might have known something wrong with the bus and called in ahead for a replacement. If there is one thing that unites this world is the buses. They are same everywhere no matter where you go.
Late in the afternoon some 8 hours after we left Amsterdam we arrived at Gallieni bus station in Paris without further drama. Jaded and totally spent we hauled our luggage next door to the metro station not before it occurred to us that we were actually in Paris. We were greeted by a bunch of automated ticket vending machines at the metro and we stood there staring at machines for a longest time trying to make sense out of those unfriendly contraptions. We knew the stop that we wanted to go but there was no map and we had no idea how to get there. No metro employee to be seen around and when we approached a few locals for help - their attempts to communicate with us in French failed miserably.
I was totally frustrated and then I saw a young Indian lady perhaps a student in Paris and told her about our predicament. She explained a little how the ticketing system works and and how to use the machine and also gave us an idea on how to get to our destination.
We bought our tickets and made our way to the right platform. A train came by and stopped for maybe 20 secs; people got off and got on the train with enormous precision and the train was gone.
Our problem was we had too many bags to board the train in 20 secs - actually 10 seconds because you have to wait for passengers to get off first before you can board. So I came up with a plan -
strapped as many tote bags I could on both of my shoulders and I positioned 2 large bags on either my side on the floor and stood as close to the edge of the platform as possible - all ready to go. Next train came and went without us, why you may ask. The doors stopped at a different spot than the previous train; we couldn't move the bags in time for us to get on the train. A local Parisian guy who had been watching our struggles, took a pity on us and offered to help. Next train came by few minutes later but it was the wrong train. We didn't have to wait longer before the right train came to a screechy halt and I felt good about this one. I got on it the first opportunity that I got and I dumped the bags on my shoulders inside the train and grabbed the other bags Sri and our new friend handed me from the platform. I knew we had one bag still sitting on the platform somewhere. Sri ran to get it. In the chaos that was unfolding, we forgot where Ryon was; I looked around to see where he was. He was not on the train. I frantically looked outside and there he was standing a few feet off to the side from doorway. He was totally unmindful of the drama that was taking place. I called out to him to get on the train fast. He rushed towards the door and I grabbed his arm and pulled him in about the same time Sri got in as the doors were closing on her. I started laughing, Sri and I smiled at each other and we thanked the guy who helped us.
We had to change several trains while negotiating a maize of tunnels, stairs, ramps, platforms. We finally got to our stop in the south western part of Paris called Denfert-Rochereau located in 14th arrondissement. By now we learned to live without elevators, so we hauled our bags outside the station and called our leasing agent from a pay phone. He showed up with his buddy an hour later and told us he was waiting for us at the wrong station and but finally decided to check if we were here at this station. They walked us to our rental apartment just a few blocks away. They went over a few things about water, tv, internet, kitchen, laundry and handed me the keys and left. We looked around and looked at each other in disbelief .We just moved in to our apartment in Paris!
Vive La France.
Thankyou
Ven Peddapalli
==========================
On last Sunday of June, at the crack of dawn we hopped on a bus in Amsterdam bound for Paris. We picked the bus over train because our hotel was right next to a bus station and it was cheaper than riding a train. The ride was nothing to brag about; the bus smelled bad and it broke down in Luxembourg City and they transferred us into another bus that was already waiting for us. The driver might have known something wrong with the bus and called in ahead for a replacement. If there is one thing that unites this world is the buses. They are same everywhere no matter where you go.
Late in the afternoon some 8 hours after we left Amsterdam we arrived at Gallieni bus station in Paris without further drama. Jaded and totally spent we hauled our luggage next door to the metro station not before it occurred to us that we were actually in Paris. We were greeted by a bunch of automated ticket vending machines at the metro and we stood there staring at machines for a longest time trying to make sense out of those unfriendly contraptions. We knew the stop that we wanted to go but there was no map and we had no idea how to get there. No metro employee to be seen around and when we approached a few locals for help - their attempts to communicate with us in French failed miserably.
I was totally frustrated and then I saw a young Indian lady perhaps a student in Paris and told her about our predicament. She explained a little how the ticketing system works and and how to use the machine and also gave us an idea on how to get to our destination.
We bought our tickets and made our way to the right platform. A train came by and stopped for maybe 20 secs; people got off and got on the train with enormous precision and the train was gone.
Our problem was we had too many bags to board the train in 20 secs - actually 10 seconds because you have to wait for passengers to get off first before you can board. So I came up with a plan -
strapped as many tote bags I could on both of my shoulders and I positioned 2 large bags on either my side on the floor and stood as close to the edge of the platform as possible - all ready to go. Next train came and went without us, why you may ask. The doors stopped at a different spot than the previous train; we couldn't move the bags in time for us to get on the train. A local Parisian guy who had been watching our struggles, took a pity on us and offered to help. Next train came by few minutes later but it was the wrong train. We didn't have to wait longer before the right train came to a screechy halt and I felt good about this one. I got on it the first opportunity that I got and I dumped the bags on my shoulders inside the train and grabbed the other bags Sri and our new friend handed me from the platform. I knew we had one bag still sitting on the platform somewhere. Sri ran to get it. In the chaos that was unfolding, we forgot where Ryon was; I looked around to see where he was. He was not on the train. I frantically looked outside and there he was standing a few feet off to the side from doorway. He was totally unmindful of the drama that was taking place. I called out to him to get on the train fast. He rushed towards the door and I grabbed his arm and pulled him in about the same time Sri got in as the doors were closing on her. I started laughing, Sri and I smiled at each other and we thanked the guy who helped us.
We had to change several trains while negotiating a maize of tunnels, stairs, ramps, platforms. We finally got to our stop in the south western part of Paris called Denfert-Rochereau located in 14th arrondissement. By now we learned to live without elevators, so we hauled our bags outside the station and called our leasing agent from a pay phone. He showed up with his buddy an hour later and told us he was waiting for us at the wrong station and but finally decided to check if we were here at this station. They walked us to our rental apartment just a few blocks away. They went over a few things about water, tv, internet, kitchen, laundry and handed me the keys and left. We looked around and looked at each other in disbelief .We just moved in to our apartment in Paris!
Vive La France.
Thankyou
Ven Peddapalli
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