The second half of the trip was certainly more harrowing than the first part of the trip. My British Air flight from Washington, DC was delayed just long enough to be nearly 40 minutes late landing in London. That meant that my suitcase stayed in London, while I made (just barely) the flight to Toulouse. They were actually expecting me at the lost luggage counter-my name and the tracking number of my suitcase had been already placed on a list. The woman there was most accommodating and told me that she would arrange to have the suitcase delivered to Carcassonne. She even let me use her phone to call Jason, my Carcassonne landlord to let him know that I would be on the 2:35 TGV from Toulouse.
I then found my way to the stand for the shuttle bus to get to the train station. It costs 5 Euros; a taxi to the same destination is 40 Euros. That's a week's worth of groceries!!! Toulouse is a lovely city--lots of reddish-pink brick, wrought iron balconies. The train station was packed. I don't know that I have ever seen Paris' Gare du Nord that busy. Perhaps because it was a Friday and people were making plans for the weekend? I had several anxious moments when I saw the wait to buy a ticket. But once some more clerks came back from lunch, the line moved faster and I was able to get my ticket and find my way to the track without incident. I even got the senior discount! I didn't know whether to be insulted or grateful.
In the interests of truth, I have to say that the stress of problem-solving and finding my way alone around new cities fried me. I never sleep on planes, so I suffer jet lag terribly. Carcassonne is 6 hours ahead of the East Coast, so I pretty much just lost that time, and not by sleeping. As much as I wanted to drink in the view, I found myself nodding off in my seat.
The most striking factor about the TGV was how quiet it was. I am used to the trains in the US, I guess--noisy and bumpy. It never seemed that we were moving as fast as we must have been going. I was also in the bottom of the train, and often the view was obscured by the banks of earth along the side of the train tracks. What I could see was lovely: a set of rolling hills with wide valleys in between. At the top of most of the hills I couls glimpse a small village whose most prominent feature was the spire of the local church. It was as if they were placed high so they could signal one another. In the reality of today's travel, they are maybe 15 minutes apart. Back when they were built, it must have taken a day or two to get from one village to another. The land in between is neatly parceled off into fields, tilled and harvested, with an occasional copse of trees. The soil looks mostly dry, but rich and fertile. There was the occasional small vineyard, and the fields of sunflowers had lost their brilliance and apparently are ready for harvest.
Toulouse to Carcassonne on the TGV took 35 minutes: comfortable and quick. I disembarked and walked out of the small, friendly station. The sun was shining, and it was probably in the mid to upper 60's as far as temperature goes. (I need to get used to Centigrade and to stop doing the conversion all the time.) The Canal du Midi runs right in front of the train station. It's surprisingly small. Jason was just pulling in to the station as I walked out the door. He drove to the apartment, giving me a scenic tour of the center ville.
I was tired enough to sleep on concrete by this time, and certainly too tired to get instructions about how to use the complicated washer/dryer and where the compost/recycling goes. I assured Jason that after a night's sleep I would be more lucid.
So, here I am--arrived. Tired but safely in one piece. I have learned that traveling alone to strange places takes more out of me than it used to, even as short a time ago as 2006. My language skills get thinner the more tired I am. Fewer people here in Toulouse and Carcassonne speak English than do the inhabitants of Paris. For tourists, Paris is definitely easier. I am determined to make this learning French experience really and truly work for me.
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I would welcome any insight.