Parlé vous l'Englais?

(I just guessed on the spelling of that title. Let me know how I did.)

First full day in France! …and oof, what a full day it has been.

Itinerary for this post:

A. Start by summing up all the stuff I was going to write yesterday and didn't
B. Then move on to talking about the stuff I did today

Itinerary for future posts:

A. Thirdly, some thoughts on being an American (particularly this American) in France
B. Interesting, France-inspired etymological studies

Yesterday [feels like weeks ago] was a bit nerve-wracking at the time because we had to get a train to London, then a tube to the Stansted station, and then a train from there to Stansted Airport. I started freaking out about this the night before because I was worried about the time crunch, but I tried not to let it show too much, because getting us both worried about it was definitely going to cause more harm than good.

In the end, it worked out with nearly 15 minutes to spare. Not only that, but all of my worries about my luggage being overweight or having too many liquids, or about not getting through security or not being allowed in France were [mostly] unfounded (though my bag was only .1 kilograms under the limit…close one). In the end, getting from England to France was a breeze, really.

But then we hit a considerable wall: the airport was north of Tours, France, and the hotel we had booked was in Chambray-les-Tours, which is quite south of Tours. Lea had supposed that there would be an ATM and perhaps a pay-phone in the airport, or that taxis would come to the airport regularly. However, as it turned out, Aeroport de Tours (or whatever…) consists of two rooms, one for departures, and security, and one for arrivals and baggage claim, and there were no taxis that we could see.

So we wandered around the airport a bit, went to the bathroom, contemplated trying to call a taxi from the phone we found (complete with phone book) but, to our luck, a taxi did pull up, and the driver even spoke English relatively well, though Lea did her level best to speak as much French as possible. He took us to a cash machine in a mall and then to our hotel. We walked back to the mall for dinner of cold pasta and club sandwiches, as well as pomegranate-cranberry juice (imported from California? Come on, France. Step up your pomegranate game) purchased from the largest supermarket I have ever seen outside of the 28th-Street Meijer in Grand Rapids.

Then, this morning, I scarfed a pains au chocolat (Lea bought a 10-pack or some such monstrosity the previous night) for breakfast, we checked out of our hotel at 9:30, and huffed it back to the mall, looking for either another taxi to the train station, or a pay phone with which to call one. We found neither forthcoming, but Lea conversed with a clerk at a desk in the aforementioned supermarket and found out that there was a pay phone outside somewhere. We found the appropriate calling card to use, and she called a Taxi.

Where would I be without Lea on this trip? Stuck at that airport still. Guaranteed. She doesn't speak much French, but the little that she does speak has been such a lifesaver, at least for me, who couldn't even pronounce anything before yesterday (I'm getting better by listening to people) let alone read signs or tell people anything. Especially in Tours, where not many people spoke English.

Glowing with the success of having called a taxi in French (something neither of us had ever done in English) we got to Gare de Tours and bought train tickets to Amboise. Glowing with the success of having gotten off at the correct stop, we purchased tickets to Chenanceau, a Chateau south of Amboise. We also bought tickets from Chenanceau to Paris for the evening. Saddened by our failure to recognize that the connecting train we had researched form Amboise to Chenanceau went through Tours (albeit a different station than the previous one), we finally got to the Chateau around 3:30. Neither of us was really upset, though, because the extra train ticket wasn't too costly, and the adventure of using the different language was exciting enough to blanket our frustration.

Then, without issue, we managed to spend nearly four hours at Chateau de Chenanceau. It's renown as one of the most beautiful of the Chateaux of the Val de Loire, which has at least a dozen Chateaux, so it's kind of a big deal. It's on a river (literally) and has two exquisite gardens, and it boats five French queens as previous residents. Lea got an audio guide and I just walked around with her and took pictures. I was disappointed by my lack of knowledge of French history, which is interesting, because until this semester, I was equally ignorant of British history. Walking around this beautiful castle helped me to realize just how much I've learned these past three months.

Naturally, you can expect pictures of the Chateau to be forthcoming…but probably not for at least a couple weeks.

We then caught our train to…some station with a connection to France. At this connecting station, we had a 30-minute layover, so we wandered into the concourse and bought crisps, gummy worms, and soda from a vending machine (yes, sadly, my experience of French cuisine is still yet to come) and ate it while we waited.

The train to Paris was express, no stops, and was also the first time we had our tickets checked since the stewardess scanned our boarding pass on the plane to Tours. We were too sheepish to take any of the seats that people were occupying with their luggage, so we stuck to the lounge car in the very back of the train, and eventually just sat down on the floor there. It was only a 1.5 hour ride, and I read Pride and Prejudice the hole time, so it was fine for me. I don't know about Lea.

At one point, the other boys in the car with us starting making obnoxious kissing noises (although, if anyone really makes those noises naturally while kissing, they are probably doing something wrong) in a manner which suggested to me that they wanted us to look at them, but I just kept reading and Lea just kept looking out the window, so they eventually stopped. Thus ended the excitement of that voyage.

After the train ride was the crazy part where we had to find the hotel. We managed to get another taxi (the driver spoke no English this time, but we had the address written on the paper, so it wasn't too bad, although I think he definitely took advantage of our foreignness and drove around a bit) but we hadn't made any hard and fast booking for our two nights in Paris (that was technically Lea's job…) so there were no vacancies there. Thankfully, the receptionist called two or three other hotels in the area until he found one with a room free, and then he gave us directions. (When I say "thankfully," imagine the Hallelujah chorus playing in the background…)

Now we're here, I managed to snag some cheap internet, and we're looking at stuff to do tomorrow and the next day. Very exciting stuff.

It's quite late here now, and I am longing for sleep. Again, I have so much I want to say before I forget it, but I took quick notes today, so I should remember them for tomorrow.

Bien nuit! (did I say that right?)

<3 spadeALLcross