Friday, how I love thee, let me count the ways. Especially this Friday. I dropped the Kid off at school and headed home to finalize all that needed to be done. I packed almost everything last night but needed to run into town and grab some last minute things. The travel day stress was mostly replaced with excitement until the train police came and checked everyone’s tickets. I had a ticket of course, but had never seen the police. When I went to get it out of my bag, I couldn't find it. Uh-oh. I started to get frantic as they got closer. How was I going to explain inf broken French that I somehow lost the ticket somewhere between the gate and the train, a whole 50 ft. When he got there I showed him my return journey ticket and tried to explain. I also showed him a spare ticket I had and hoped he would just take it in place of the one I’d lost. They took the ticket, and wrote the date, told me not to stress, and left me alone. That was close. As I took a closer look at the ticket they had handed back to me, I noticed an indentation on the back. It was the “lost” ticket. The machine must have been out of ink, because it imprinted the validation, but with no ink. It was a mix of relief, and then frustration because had the police not been as nice, they would have fined me a boat load. It ended well, so I’m not complaining, but it could have been a bad start to my fabulous vacation.
I made it home and finished packing. I ran to get the Kid and then handed him off to his sister. Said goodbye and headed for the train. I made it to the station in Paris and boarded the night train to Madrid. After going to the wrong car I managed to find my correct berth. I was very glad to have been wrong however because the first car was boiling hot. I was pondering how to jimmy open the window because it was stifling. When I went to the right one, I was greeted with the cool breeze of A.C. Glorious. My bunkmate was a women from Hanover. I swear every German I meet is from Hanover. Very odd. It ended up only being the 2 of us, and I was glad for that because I’m not sure how you would fit 4 people in one of those compartments, even if it was family. Maybe without luggage, but who would take the night train without luggage? Passed on dinner due to the extraordinary prices and settled in for a ling night. I’m happy the sun is setting so late though because I’ll be able to see a bit of French countryside before bed. It’s amazing how soon out of Paris it becomes picturesque. Not that Paris isn’t picturesque, just different. I handed the ticket checker my passport and became anxious about that whole ordeal. The train is 14 hours and I’m going to try and get to sleep early. Not having internet means reading which would normally be fine except I’ve finished my little stack already. I brought HP7 just in case. It’ll be my 4th time to read it but I always reread the books for the movies and the movie is only 3 months away. The German woman is getting off the train at 4am so I’m assuming she’ll be turning in early, which bodes well for me. Also it means I’ll have the room to myself in the morning. In a few short hours I’ll be with my first visitors from home. Not sure I’ll get much sleep tonight.
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