Taxi, Plane, Tramway, Metro, No Train, Metro, Train, Train, Car

Phew. Today was quite a fall-off from yesterday, but I guess you gotta have some.

I left the house at 8:30 today for Bordeaux, France, wishing I didn't have to leave the wonderful hospitality but anxious to be on my way. I got to the airport and promptly found out that my bag was an inch to wide and would have to be checked, for a ten pound charge, of course. Bastards.

The flight was uneventful, like the best ones should be, and I landed safely at Charles DeGaulle airport. From there I took the tramway into Paris to have lunch and catch the 3:50 train to Bordeaux. After a nice--and surprisingly cheap--lunch, I got on on the Metro and went to catch the train.

(Note: even after just five days in England, I got accustomed to the pound, so it didn't even seem weird to me to pay as much as I did for things--now, the Euro seems like nothing.)

In another fit of arrogance (weird, right?), I hadn't made advance reservations for the train, as I'd be using my Eurail pass to travel for free. This worked alright in Ireland, but not so in Paris. The train was full, so I went to the counter, where it became apparent that almost ALL the trains were full. I finally got a reservation from another station that had a two hour layover in Tours and got me to Bordeaux at 11:50 PM.

With no choice in the matter, I accepted, and so made my way to the other train. It was uneventful until Tours, where I asked if I could get on another earlier train. I had to ask the conductor of the train when it pulled up, and he said that while there were no more places I was welcome to board.

As it was only a two-hour ride, I thought that sounded alright, so I stood in the midsection of the train for about an hour before some spots opened up as we passed other cities. I ended up sitting first class, and the ticket taker never even came by!

Because of the earlier train, I got into Bordeaux at 10:30, which wasn't so bad, especially since my friend Tristan was there to pick me up in his car and bring me to his place. I really will be forever indebted to all the people helping me out while I'm here.

So tired. Bordeaux tomorrow. Here's blurry picture of the sunset from the first train.