Holiday weekend
Well, I have officially established myself in Clermont-Ferrand. I've got my apartment setup with wine, beer, PB&J, Coke, rondele (garlic and herb goat cheese spread - it's damn good stuff), some weight watchers dinners for my Micro-ondas and OJ. Just the essentials really. I have strategically placed pictures of my honey, my parents, my best friend, and my dog to remind me that I have a life back home more comforting than this one. I suppose there are worse places to be than "stuck in France" though.
I spoke with some colleagues yesterday about how best to spend my 3 day weekend here. The French have a very high opinion of France you see, so a debate ensued about where is the BEST city to send the American for the weekend. It was spirited, to say the least. Imagine a discussion in Lexington about which is better - Nashville, Chicago, or Charleston, WV. Consensus was reached, and I booked a ticket to Avignon. The weather has been particularly damp and dreary in Clermont-Ferrand, so I am hoping that a trip southeast will bring better (or at least different) weather.
I have taken a Taxi to the train station (11 Euro) and am now waiting onboard the train. I arrived an hour early, not knowing how long it takes to get to the station, and what troubles I might encounter there retrieving the ticket I purchased online. They had kiosks where you can retrieve your online ticket UNLESS you booked online using American Express, which of course I did. It doesn't actually tell you this on the machine of course. It let's you get 22 steps into the process and then says "please swipe your card that you used to purchase the tickets." The logos on the machine are for Visa and Mastercard only, so I was out of luck. Swiped my AmEx and the card reader tells me in French something like "hey dummy, we don't take AmEx." So I went inside to "le Guichet de Billets" and spoke with a human. As awful as my French is, the transaction still only took 1 minute and I was on my way...to the bench to wait for the train to show up.
The train station is small, but nice. Little newspaper stand, coffee shop. There was a SNCF security guy walking around with the most beautiful German (or probably Belgian) shepherd I had ever seen. I wondered why he was muzzeled, but not for long. Every now and then this dog would decide he wanted to "investigate" a passer by, and he let this be known with great enthusiasm. He was very well trained though, and would quiet down as soon as the handler asked him to. He didn't find any bombs - at least not while I was there.
The train arrived at the station about 30 minutes before departure. Since I did not have a reserved seat, I went straight out to the platform. My journey has two legs - a trip to Lyon, and there I board a TGV train for Avignon. For the TGV journey I have a reserved seat in non-smoking 1st class. For this first leg though, I have a first class seat but it is not reserved and it says "no preference" in the smoking box. Ends up first class is mostly empty, and the whole train is non-smoking but hey, you gotta "be prepared."
We have pulled out of the station now and are rolling through the French countryside. It is beautiful, that's for sure. It's a lot like I've always pictured Tuscany, though I've never been there. Lots of small farms with red shingle roofs. Many of them have long driveways of tan colored stone, lined with those tall skinny evergreen trees. This first leg of the journey is 2.5 hours. The TGV leg is 1 hour and covers more distance!
I spoke with some colleagues yesterday about how best to spend my 3 day weekend here. The French have a very high opinion of France you see, so a debate ensued about where is the BEST city to send the American for the weekend. It was spirited, to say the least. Imagine a discussion in Lexington about which is better - Nashville, Chicago, or Charleston, WV. Consensus was reached, and I booked a ticket to Avignon. The weather has been particularly damp and dreary in Clermont-Ferrand, so I am hoping that a trip southeast will bring better (or at least different) weather.
I have taken a Taxi to the train station (11 Euro) and am now waiting onboard the train. I arrived an hour early, not knowing how long it takes to get to the station, and what troubles I might encounter there retrieving the ticket I purchased online. They had kiosks where you can retrieve your online ticket UNLESS you booked online using American Express, which of course I did. It doesn't actually tell you this on the machine of course. It let's you get 22 steps into the process and then says "please swipe your card that you used to purchase the tickets." The logos on the machine are for Visa and Mastercard only, so I was out of luck. Swiped my AmEx and the card reader tells me in French something like "hey dummy, we don't take AmEx." So I went inside to "le Guichet de Billets" and spoke with a human. As awful as my French is, the transaction still only took 1 minute and I was on my way...to the bench to wait for the train to show up.
The train station is small, but nice. Little newspaper stand, coffee shop. There was a SNCF security guy walking around with the most beautiful German (or probably Belgian) shepherd I had ever seen. I wondered why he was muzzeled, but not for long. Every now and then this dog would decide he wanted to "investigate" a passer by, and he let this be known with great enthusiasm. He was very well trained though, and would quiet down as soon as the handler asked him to. He didn't find any bombs - at least not while I was there.
The train arrived at the station about 30 minutes before departure. Since I did not have a reserved seat, I went straight out to the platform. My journey has two legs - a trip to Lyon, and there I board a TGV train for Avignon. For the TGV journey I have a reserved seat in non-smoking 1st class. For this first leg though, I have a first class seat but it is not reserved and it says "no preference" in the smoking box. Ends up first class is mostly empty, and the whole train is non-smoking but hey, you gotta "be prepared."
We have pulled out of the station now and are rolling through the French countryside. It is beautiful, that's for sure. It's a lot like I've always pictured Tuscany, though I've never been there. Lots of small farms with red shingle roofs. Many of them have long driveways of tan colored stone, lined with those tall skinny evergreen trees. This first leg of the journey is 2.5 hours. The TGV leg is 1 hour and covers more distance!
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