Getting to France

People think walking will be hard, but I say that getting to France is harder than walking the Chemin, any day. Here’s a quick look at what I had to do and a few of the little joys along the way.

Amtrak from Quincy, Illinois to Union Station, Chicago. Great trip, smooth, quiet, not crowded, even as students returning to school took most of the seats by the end of the trip. 6:12 am to 10:30. Thanks to Dikki Ann who hosted me and got me to the station on time!

Blue line train from the Clinton Station (just a few blocks walk south of Union Station) to OHare. Again, quiet, not too crowded. A young man with a curly man bun and a cello or bass in a case & two huge bags was heading to the Netherlands; he helped me get on the right train, even though it was leaving from the wrong side of the platform. He was right. About an hour ride.

Check in at the Air France counter, 4 hours early. No checked bags! Security was bearable. Waiting in my quiet corner, I met friendly Michelle from Milwaukee, who was heading to Scotland for a knitting & prayer retreat on some remote island. It sounded very low-key and beautiful.

Flight left at 5:10 pm and arrived in Paris about 8:15 Tuesday am. I got to sit next to two twenty-something sisters from Chicago going to a music festival in Germany. One had a grad degree in Fashion and Textiles & Museum Studies from Iowa State and is helping with the new Obama Museum being built in south Chicago. They both were dressed like Paris models and even changed into another, even more chic outfit for their 7-hour layover trip into Paris before flying out again.

Paris Charles DeGaulle Airport was NOT oppressively crowded for the first time in my life! New route to get to customs, much longer, leading me to places I’d never been before, new systems for screening and passport check with photo and/or face recognition technology, whatever – the flashing bright lights there made it so exciting. Then back to my past: the same old, very small windows, where a bored French functionary stamps your passport. I did wear a N95 mask in the airports, and I guess I had to reveal my face once again here to get through customs. Whew. By the way, I’m really hot, sweaty, and travel tired by this time.

Next, finding the Train station at CDG. Had to get to an exit area and then take airport shuttle and walk through crowds (that were close to oppressive), but I kept moving & positive. No signs to help me know where to go until I had already covered another 2 miles it seemed & asked a lot of directions. « Juste par là » Just this way, and they’d point ahead or to the left, as if it was obvious. Finally: la Gare. Trains to Paris and other directions!

Lin Min was heading to Bordeaux to get a master’s degree in French. She said I was the first person to speak to her in France. We are now friends and she even wants to read my blog. She is so brave to come here to learn her 4th language and find a career eventually.

She and so many other kind folks all along my way made my getting to France, and eventually to Agen, by 4:30 pm on Tuesday better! I am thankful, and I am feeling lots better after my shower and a good night’s sleep. Now, I’m off to enjoy my first breakfast in France.