Well, it certainly didn't start that way. In an attempt to get out of babysitting in the morning on Saturday, I may have said that my train left at 9:30 am.... It didn't really leave until 12:15. What's a girl gotta do to get a break from kids! I have a firm case against that lie for when I'm standing at the judgement bar.
With my 3 hours of time to kill, I visited the little gluten free bakery just up from Les Halles underground shopping center and bought a ridiculously overpriced Kings' Cake (Galette de Rois) mini pie to take on the train. 1) I'm always hungry since this gluten free thing and 2) I am always hungry. And it was Gluten free. *Read post about Galette de Rois*
So that didn't take long. I decided to just get back to Montparnasse and read my amazingly, awesome book (We Were There) and wait for Emily and Hannah to arrive. I was freezing and stiff but I wasn't babysitting so life was good!
Finally the girls showed up and the weekend adventure began. That includes a ridiculous amount of filming because of my inspired idea, thanks to Hannah's introducing me to the Devines, so I was naturally going to film and document the marvelous weekend trip in France. Well, I'm glad I did because it was the Never Ending Day of Doom accompanied by two cool people so it was actually pretty great. Too long of a title? Peut-etre.
We boarded the TGV (first-time experience on the fastest man-made thing in the world) and settled in for our extremely quick trip to the Loire Valley. Upon further inspection, we realized we were in the "quiet zone" which Emily soon realized was not the best place to eat chips. All laughs over here. Silent cracking up! A few lip sync battle sessions raged as I had Uptown Funk blasting in mine and Hannah's ears and Emily had who-knows-what going on in her ears. The quiet zone didn't stop us.
The countryside was, in fact, beautiful on the sunny gorgeous day and the TGV felt like it was floating a few times. Very cool!Our 15 euro seats were totally worth it. But what I was really looking forward to was our 18 euro first-class seats home. Too bad I would never get to use it. But we'll get to that. (BITTERNESS STILL RAGING). Ok...
We made it to the station in Tours and had no idea where to go. Totally a go-with-the-flow trip that had zero planning which we definitely paid for later. Figuratively and literally. I asked the lady in the info box which was the nearest Chateau and she suggested Chateau de Chenonceau which was exactly what Hannah wanted to see. We rushed over to a ticket kiosk and dropped another 14 euros each on round trip train tickets to the Chateau and hopped on the nearest train. No, we didn't know what time it would return. No, we had no clue where to go after that. We just knew: Train-> Chateau. !!!
Turns out the 50 cents I spent on the bathroom in the station could have been saved because the fancy schmancy trains had bathrooms inside. #socheap
Hannah and Emily showed off their abundance of snacks (rice cakes) and we eagerly awaited this Chateau. Once we got to our stop, we climbed onto the platform and went into helpless tourist mode. There was a map but we were all too busy recording video, snapchatting, or asking Siri for help (all of the above) to actually read the map. Round two went like, "Chateau! Ahh we found it! It says Chateau!" If there was anyone remotely nearby, we would have been a sight to see. Or laugh at. Mainly the latter.
Another 10 euros and another free bathroom, we were walking down the tree-lined/moat surrounded/stream lined path to the chateau. Beautiful weather!! And not touristy at all! Perfect day to go. We arrived around 2 pm and decided that at 4:30 we would go back to the platform to catch a train back to our 5:30 TGV to Paris. What the heck were we thinking. We didn't even check train times! TRAINS IN THE LOIRE VALLEY DO NOT RUN LIKE IN PARIS. They are NOT every 12-30 minutes! They are like 90 minutes apart.But we will get to that.
First up, the Labyrinth. Hannah and Emily were running around like kids in a candy store. Perfectly shaped shrubs that Hannah towered over and Emily was, well, barely visible over. In our future dream homes, we will all each have our own labyrinth.
Then we trotted around the gardens of the Chateau and photographed every angle possible. First to the left, then around to the right. I was in awe!
The inside was no disappointment either. The gallery? Oh my word have mercy on my soul. INCREDIBLE. Basically, it is a ballroom with black, wrought-iron chandeliers, black and white checkered floors, bay windows on either side over looking the river, and tall white walls lined with green shrub trees. I want to get married in there! My other favorite place was the kitchens.With a descending staircase going down below the castle, the kitchens were split up into two/three rooms that included servant dining quarters. Just like Downton Abbey! So naturally, I loved it.
4:30 came around and we decided to head to the platform which at first we had trouble finding because Tours is confusing and dumb when it comes to trains! But we found a poster, read it, was like, "nah it can't be coming in an hour and a half", then moved down the line, found another poster and was like, "no this can't be right either", then moved down and found a screen and in fact it said that the next train was not coming until 3 minutes after or TGV home would leave Tours....
That one hit you right in the gut. I debated hitch hiking, calling a taxi?, walking.... We really didn't know what we were going to do. Hotel for the night? Sleep on the platform? Survive off those blasted rice cakes that I could not stand anymore.
I knelt and prayed and Emily used her data to find us a ouibus home! Teamwork! Hahahaha. We sat and waited and watched the time pass as our TGV left and we just sat there still. Then the little train was late 15 minutes so that was great. It was just one thing after another!
We land in Tours train station again. We walk the distance to the bus station which really wasn't a station at all but more like a side road parking lot. The GPS had us going to a non-existent space so we hoped and prayed that the parking lot we found was our destination. Then we sat and waited some more. Remind you, this is about 7pm at night now and we have not eaten lunch or dinner and I was feeling the huger pains!! On our little curb of shame, we endured the biting cold, listened to music, and did our best to keep things light hearted.
When the rain started to fall, I couldn't help but laugh because when everything else seems to go wrong, obviously expect some rain. Movies prove it! We laughed and shivered and danced our way through the night until the glorious Ouibus whisked us off to Paris. I slept the entire ride home basically.
Adventure is so not over yet!! I am physically starving, so flippin' cold, and done with public transportation.
When we get off the Ouibus, we run through the pouring rain to the nearest metro, praying that I can catch a train home before they stop and end this monstrous day. Well, an hour later I'm pulling up to my stop and I walk home only to find my key is not fitting into the lock properly. My host parents left a key in the other side of the door. WHAT!?!?!? This day was meant for the movies. I was cold, wet, and starving and...locked out. I knocked and phoned but nobody was answering. Nobody. I forgot about the doorbell from the outside wall but, knowing me, I'm too nice to disturb anyone so I called up Hannah and told her what a freakish night it turned into. Being the gracious person that she is, she told me to come to her house and crash for the night. THANK YOU!
So I rush back to my platform (a good 15 minute walk away) and check to see when the next train is. It was the last one and it wasn't for another 27 minutes. Are. You. Kidding. Me.
But I took it all in stride and waited patiently those 27 agonizing minutes in the cold and tried to dismiss my stomach which felt like it was going to eat my insides. One of the great ad terrible things about France is that there are vending machines everywhere so when I'm not in need of food I get a snickers and when I am in need of food I get a snickers. The only gluten-free thing in there (do NOT tell me if I'm wrong) and I needed energy even if it cam in the form of a sugar kick in the butt.
I put my coin in the slot and pushed up. Nothing. I tried it again. Nothing. Why was nothing working in my favor that day!! After a few more futile attempts, I finally got my snickers bar and a warm(er) seat on the train and another long-haul back to Paris.
I got to Hannah's and she fed me some rice and we talked forever and finally crashed by 2 or 3 in the morning. Let's just say, I'm so glad that day is over. I'm so glad for awesome friends who can help. I'm so glad I got to see another part of France. And I'm so glad for the memories that have been made that will be funny to laugh at in a few years time. And I'm glad I finally finished this post!
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