It's true. I was there. And I met Earnest Hemingway.
And I walked in the rain. And it was honest and courageous and brave and noble but that's what war does to a man when he doesn't fear death.
No but in reality, I got to Paris before I got to the the film Midnight in Paris, which I actually just saw last night. And if you haven't seen it I'm sorry for utterly confusing you, or mainly just sounding like an idiot.. Anyway, I loved this latest Woody Allen film, especially because I had just been to Paris; I recognized the landmarks of the city, and I could understand it when Owen Wilson's character talks about the lights in Paris, and so on. It's really a portrait of the historical, cultural, and nostalgic magic of Paris, so it was kind of neat to see it, just after seeing it.
Well anyway. Good films are good films, but hey I was in Paris! Let's talk about that, Will!
Okay so here's what happened. I took the TGV, which remember is pronounced the tay jay vay, which stands for Train de Grand Vitesse which means "really fast train." They thought long and hard about that name..
So my host dad brought my host brother Max and I to the Toulon train station (20 mins away) about an hour early because he's parisien and constantly hurrying and rushed and way ahead of time.
Here's on the way to Toulon:
It was cloudy.
Here's sitting at a cafe having a hot chocolate and looking at the sky:
It was pretty.
Here's a rhinoceros:
Alright! Now we're getting somewhere!!
So then we found out that the train was a few minutes late. But we had it a whole lot better off then the train to Nice! That one was delayed 4 hours, even though Nice is like an hour away!
So then we realized that Max had forgotten his ID card, and so my host mom drove over and gave it to him while we waited. Then we got on the train (double decker!) and got in our car (with star wars sliding doors!) and sat down and eventually left.
*EDIT* Hey I forgot to tell you guys a really funny little French moment. So when you get on the TGV and you settle in, they play a little welcome message over the speakers. However, it's nothing like estimated time of arrival, stations stopped at, safety, or plugs for the company. It was of comparable length to the safety talks on airplanes, so rather elongated, and was literally a shpeel dedicated solely to the proper and polite way to conduct yourself on the train (nice pun there, eh?). I wish I had recorded it because it was golden, and I haven't had luck finding it written somewhere on the internet.. But the essence of it just seemed very french, and urged everyone to respect each other, and also to speak softly and not swear. It was great. However, if anything had happened, I wouldn't have had a clue where the safety exits were.... but by golly I would've exited quietly!
Unfortunately, it was nighttime, so instead of this:
But anyway, I got a really nice chance to catch some french air and stretch my legs when the train broke down! Haha, well of course the train broke down! That's what happens when you try to go to Paris Will! And what happens when the train is en panne??
Well everyone goes out to smoke, duh....
So once we got moving again all was well, but we were about an hour and 40 minutes late. Thankfully my host uncle in law (?) was patiently waiting there at the Gare de Lyon to pick us up and drive us home at 1:30 in the morning...
I couldn't help but thinking that from the back seat it looked like I was being driven around by Humphrey Bogart.... Just sayin'.
So in other news, it is midnight, I have school tomorrow (ha, what a joke) and so I will close this blog with just a little video explaining the history of a certain city I went to called Draguignan (pardon, there are a couple light swear words, sorry. It's called improv.)
Why was I there? A very interesting Rotary meeting. How was it? More on that later. For now, SLEEEP!
Bonne nuit!
Well anyway. Good films are good films, but hey I was in Paris! Let's talk about that, Will!
Okay so here's what happened. I took the TGV, which remember is pronounced the tay jay vay, which stands for Train de Grand Vitesse which means "really fast train." They thought long and hard about that name..
So my host dad brought my host brother Max and I to the Toulon train station (20 mins away) about an hour early because he's parisien and constantly hurrying and rushed and way ahead of time.
Here's on the way to Toulon:
It was cloudy.
Here's sitting at a cafe having a hot chocolate and looking at the sky:
It was pretty.
Here's a rhinoceros:
So then we found out that the train was a few minutes late. But we had it a whole lot better off then the train to Nice! That one was delayed 4 hours, even though Nice is like an hour away!
So then we realized that Max had forgotten his ID card, and so my host mom drove over and gave it to him while we waited. Then we got on the train (double decker!) and got in our car (with star wars sliding doors!) and sat down and eventually left.
*EDIT* Hey I forgot to tell you guys a really funny little French moment. So when you get on the TGV and you settle in, they play a little welcome message over the speakers. However, it's nothing like estimated time of arrival, stations stopped at, safety, or plugs for the company. It was of comparable length to the safety talks on airplanes, so rather elongated, and was literally a shpeel dedicated solely to the proper and polite way to conduct yourself on the train (nice pun there, eh?). I wish I had recorded it because it was golden, and I haven't had luck finding it written somewhere on the internet.. But the essence of it just seemed very french, and urged everyone to respect each other, and also to speak softly and not swear. It was great. However, if anything had happened, I wouldn't have had a clue where the safety exits were.... but by golly I would've exited quietly!
Unfortunately, it was nighttime, so instead of this:
I saw this:
...
No wait, it was more like this:
But anyway, I got a really nice chance to catch some french air and stretch my legs when the train broke down! Haha, well of course the train broke down! That's what happens when you try to go to Paris Will! And what happens when the train is en panne??
Well everyone goes out to smoke, duh....
So once we got moving again all was well, but we were about an hour and 40 minutes late. Thankfully my host uncle in law (?) was patiently waiting there at the Gare de Lyon to pick us up and drive us home at 1:30 in the morning...
So in other news, it is midnight, I have school tomorrow (ha, what a joke) and so I will close this blog with just a little video explaining the history of a certain city I went to called Draguignan (pardon, there are a couple light swear words, sorry. It's called improv.)
Why was I there? A very interesting Rotary meeting. How was it? More on that later. For now, SLEEEP!
Bonne nuit!
Affectionately,
Will
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