De l'est à l'ouest, par le Train

Éloyes Station (I think)

So, my journey to Cherbourg continued...

As I said in the last post, I had to get replacement bus from Remiremont to Epinal and then change to train for Paris. Helene had told me that there were no stops in between the two stations but she was very wrong - we stopped at Saint-Nabord, Éloyes and Arches. It was a nice scenic route and I was very glad to be getting further and further away!

At Epinal, I got off the bus and went to find the train! The French 'composte' their tickets before they board on trains - basically involves sticking your ticket into a yellow scanner which stamps your ticket with the location, date and time. I'm still not sure why you're supposed to do this though... Seems a bit superfluous to me!

It took me a little while to find the right platform and train. It wasn't too difficult but as I didn't want to drag my suitcases up stairs I got the lift, but I got in the wrong one twice as it didn't say on the lifts which platforms they went up to. Helpful!

I boarded the train after a little while searching. Helene had freaked me out with her constant telling me that sometimes trains split, check lots of times that its the right train because it might not be etc. so I walked up and down the platform about 3 times until I was convinced it was the right train. Thanks to getting the earlier bus there was plenty of time to wander.

Pretty Church in Arches

The train from Epinal to Paris was very relaxing. It left at 16:27 and was due to arrive in Paris at 18:46. The bus had been boiling so I had a freshen up in the loo, and then listening to Lana Del Ray's new album while watching the French countryside out of the window. It was a TGV train (fast train) so it didn't stop very many times, maybe only 3-4 times at the most. At Nancy lots of people got on but no one sat next to me so I still got to spread out.

Epinal Station

We were a little early arriving in Paris, at Gare de Paris-Est . I didn't mind too much. I had two hours wait in Paris and get the Metro west to Gare Saint-Lazare. Helene had given me a child ticket for the Metro that she happened to have but Frances told me not to risk it because they'll just fine you lots of money on the spot so better to just spend an extra 1.70euros on a new one. I had a bit of difficulty getting through the barriers with all my luggage - they didn't seem to have them for people with luggage in some places so I got stuck a few times!

Helene also told me to go via Opéra on the metro but that was stupid because going from Paris Est to Saint Lazare via Gare du Nord meant one stop on the Metro line 4, a change onto RER E Magenta line (after a 5 min walk through Gare du Nord), one more stop and you're there! Would have been able to do it in about 20 mins if I'd run/worked it out a bit faster/not gone on the Magenta line in the wrong direction... I asked a french person if it was going to Saint-Lazare. He said yes, but I shouldn't have believed him as one stop later I was in Pantin... (two stops in the wrong direction). I didn't mind too much as I just hopped off, went up the steps and over the bridge to the other side and jumped back on! I met a very nice english guy (probably a student) on that train. He asked if I needed help (in English!) as I was translating something on my phone. I told him thanks very much, but I'd worked it out now, and explained about getting on in the wrong direction. He told me to 'Never ask a French person anything. They really do not care!' Very good advice!

When I got to Saint-Lazare, I followed the signs out towards the train station. It turned out that the Metro was about 100m from the Station, and not just in the same building like Gare du Nord was. I had around an hour to kill at this point so took my time getting into the station. I worked out the general area where trains to Cherbourg went from and went to hang around there while waiting for the Platform to be announced. I was just considering going to get a burger when an english girl and her mother walked past, talking in english, and I think I blurted out 'Are you english?'

Nancy Station

They were very nice and happy to see an english person too! They told me all about their ordeal getting from Gare du Nord to their hotel, not too far from Saint-Lazare. Apparently they weren't sure about how easy it would be so just booked a taxi which originally quoted about 25euros but charged them over 50! I told them that I'd just come from Gare du Nord and explained how easy (and cheap) it was. They then told me that they were in Paris as a holiday before Charlotte (the girl) restarted her A Levels in September. She told me all about how she wanted to be an actress and was taking Drama but had struggled with the theory side of her A levels, although had got top marks on all practical sides of things. I told them about how I was going to be an au pair and had been in the mountains etc.

They stayed talking to me for almost half an hour and at about 8:30pm I told them I should probably go and find my train as the platform was now on the boards - platform 25. It wasn't far so I headed over, and waited. Just as I got there the boards flashed 'Retard 5 min'. I wasn't too worried by this so just sat at the end of the platform waiting for the train to turn up. I remembered about the silly composte thing so moved over to scan my ticket at about 20:40. A few seconds later a station guard (what do you call them?!) came up to me and asked me what train I was waiting for and where I was going. I told her Cherbourg and showed her my ticket. She then told me that the train had moved (she'd worked out I was english and was thankfully speaking english for me!) and that it was now on Platform 23. It didn't say that on the boards - they still said Plat 25, delayed 5 mins! She said she'd show me and ran me over there. She pointed at the train and said 'quick, the train leaves in 3 minutes!' I hurriedly said thank you very much for letting me know and rushed over to the train to get backs and things on. This train was a non-reserved seating one so thankfully I didn't need to hunt for the correct carriage and seat and just jumped on. I put my suitcase on the racks and then found a seat. Less than a minute later the train left.

I'm so glad that she came and told me, and that she guessed I was waiting in the wrong place! I would have had no idea otherwise and would have missed the train completely!!

The journey was mostly uninteresting. The only thing that happened was some strange drunk french/eastern european guy was asking people if they had a phone charger he could use. I had my laptop out with my phone plugged into it and if I'd realised that's what he wanted earlier, I would have hidden it! He came along and asked, when I said no, he leaned over and took my charger out of my phone and tried to fit it into his phone! I tried saying it was a different phone and didn't work but when it did he told me thank you and then sat down and made himself comfortable! He told me he'd just be 2 mins but then made a long, loud phone call and kept trying to pass the phone over to me to get me to speak to his friend. I kept saying 'Non merci, Je regrette, je ne comprends pas' but he didn't get it. After a couple of minutes the train stopped at another station and everyone else in the carriage got off! At this point, I started to feel pretty uncomfortable so packed away my laptop and everything else, took my charger from him, and told him I needed to go to the toilet. He tried getting me to leave my laptop and charger etc. all there while I went but I told him it all needed to come with me. I picked up my bag, went to get my suitcase from the rack and planned to go into the next carriage where there were more people. The guy insisted on helping me carry my bags and then stood blocking the way into the next carriage next to the loo. I actually did need the toilet so took all my stuff into the toilet and took a good 10 minutes. By this point it was about 12am so I knew we only had a couple more minutes until we reached Cherbourg. I came out of the toilet and headed straight into the next carriage. Thankfully he'd disappeared, probably to bug someone else for a phone charger!

Finally arrived in Cherbourg at 00:05. Charly was there to meet me at the station and we were only about 10 mins drive from the house where I finally felt like I could relax again!

More about Cherbourg next...