The strangest thing happened today. After traveling in Europe since January (although I did go home for a few months for Lent/Easter) I got on the wrong train for the first time. I’ve actually been pretty proud of myself for how well I’ve done with all the different public transportation systems as each country’s system is a little bit different. And I’ve even helped other travelers, both foreign and native. I’m just going to blame it on the heat and that I really wasn’t paying as close attention as I normally do. I asked the train conductor if this was the right train rather than looking and knowing myself. He said it was, so I took his word for it and got on. My first clue that I was probably on the wrong train should have been that someone else was in my assigned seat. Instead, I just sat somewhere else for a moment. It wasn’t until the train starting leaving that I thought…mmmm…maybe this isn’t right, especially since the train was leaving 7 minutes before it was scheduled to do so. I’ve found that trains in Europe are very punctual. If not, they will announce it. I finally got up and went to one of the train conductors in my car. He confirmed that I was on the wrong train. I showed him my ticket and another conductor brought up the schedule and showed me that I could make a connection in Paris and be in Dijon pretty close to when I had planned to be there anyway. No big deal…I’m not in any rush…thankfully, because the connection ended up being delayed by an hour. However, the conductor on my incorrect train was concerned enough that after we got off he personally took me to the ticket station and had them exchange my ticket for a new one! How absolutely sweet was that? I love train travel here in Europe so much. We could learn a lot from them about how to improve our own systems at home.
Anyway, I’m in Dijon and looking forward to discovering this city, the origins of Dijon Mustard perhaps, and in this Burgundy region a whole new set of wines to try. I hear this area of France is also well known for Truffles.
I forgot to share yesterday that I had visited Paul Cezanne’s home and studio in Aix-en-Provence. The tour was sold out for the day, so I didn’t get to go inside, but I took pictures of the house.
I tried to grab dinner this evening at one of the nearby restaurants, but all of them required reservations. So I made do with items from the small grocery store just around the corner.
Also I’m in love with this water by Volvic. I hope I can find it or at least order it when I get home. I’m also thinking of just making huge patches of it myself. It’s similar to Hint water, if you’ve ever had it, but has even more flavor. Basically, it is water with just the essence of flavor, so no sugar added. I’ve had their lemon and their cucumber mint.
No comments:
Post a Comment