one exciting night!!!

Sept 21, 2007

I went into Paris with my friend, Wolfie, to just hang out and have a good time. I mean, it's Friday night, and I'm young...shouldn't I be doing things like that on a regular basis? We went for a walk and took silly pictures (see Facebook, if you're my friend) and just talked and laughed. Then we wandered by the Hotel de Ville (city hall), where...another reason why I think France is great. In front of the city hall, they'll put up seasonal things of entertainment: ice skating in the winter, beach volleyball (with sand and everything) in the summer, etc. Right now, they laid out fake grass, and a huge big screen, and are playing all the World Cup Rugby games on the screen for all to watch. Fun times at the Hotel de Ville.

Anyway, we went on over to the Latin Quarter to have some dinner. Wolfie had not yet had fondue, and well...that's just a crying shame. Melted cheese with bread and ham for supper? Yes, please! After supper, we took some pictures of the sunset, and then decided to skip watching the rugby game (match?) and to just go on home. Well...

We got to one of the biggest train stations in Paris, Gare du Nord, said goodbye, and each got on our corresponding trains. Ten minutes later, an announcement came over the loud speakers that said no trains would be leaving out of Gare du Nord due to a "bad disturbance." (Which usually translates that someone was hit on the tracks, but tonight with the rugby match and all France sports fans in a frenzy, who knows what it meant.) All trains were being rerouted throught Gare du L'Est. Grrr...

I found Wolfie in the masses of people, and we traveled together to another station in Paris (it wasn't that far, just one metro stop, but with the whole world trying to get there...). It was craziness! I said bye to her again and went and hopped on the train that was supposed to be going my way. Then the announcement came on that the train was cancelled. A collective moan and "I don't believe this" rose up in the car. As I stepped off the train, a huge angry crowd was gathering around two train workers. With this city's penchant for rioting, I didn't want to stay anywhere near there.

I wasn't sure where to go, or where Wolfie was. I heard another announcement come on, but with all the noise around me, I only caught the word, "fifteen." I saw everyone running for line fifteen, so I went that direction and saw that it was supposed to be going my direction. Right as I hopped on it, alarms started going off all through the station. What was going on?! I had no idea.

I called Wolfie on the cell and asked her where she was. She was on the next train over, and I finally spotted her...we waved through the windows as my train pulled out.

I was so thankful to get home and be settled in for the evening...or so I thought! Continue on to the next post...