Chatelet has a large bus terminal so I quickly looked for my connecting bus. I scurried around in the freezing sleet and finally spotted it....pulling away! With my big backpack on my back I started the chase
the bus hit a red light at the end of the block
my feet were pounding on the slick sidewalk
green light
bus turned up one block
running
red light
backpack slapped around on my back
still red
I came up to the back of the bus and started waving both arms over my head, approaching the front
just then the light turned green
the driver, blind to my plight, accelerated, turned onto Rue de Rivoli, and disappeared into the flurries.
There I was, on a corner, being sleeted on, about 6km from where my bus was leaving in just a half hour. I started to walk. I weighed my options. Taxis are very expensive, I don't know the bus routes, and I'm not a fast runner. I walked on, kicking myself and wondering how I could possibly be off to such a terrible start.
As she does so well and so often the Universe decided to give me an early birthday present. There, just 10 meters in front of my face, a bus had rounded a corner and was stopping to pick up a gentleman. As I was thinking, "wouldn't it be nice..." I noticed that the side of the bus advertised its stops, one of which was mine!
I caught my bus to the airport, made my flight, enjoyed views over the snow-capped Pyrenees in the early morning sunshine, and landed in a sunny Girona. Caught another bus, two trains, and ended up in Canet de Mar, where my lovely couchsurfing host Tanya picked me up.
Paris Beauvais Airport, white stuff = fresh slushy snow
Girona, Pyrenees on the horizon. Notice a difference from the picture above? God bless Spanish weather!
Girona train station
Beautiful Human Being - On the way to Canet
Tanya and I wandered the empty town together talking about life abroad. Siesta left us alone together in a pleasant silence to enjoy lunch as slow as we pleased, green salad, calamari, potato dumplings, and chocolate cake!
We ventured out that night to a local bar. Tanya is a bona fide celebrity in Canet. She is the only American in town and teaches at the only school, everybody knows her! I enjoyed balking at the terrible haircuts the youth sported and feeling the small town energy. To be among friendly people at a local bar was a very welcome change from the crowded stranger filled spots in Paris. It made me miss SLV very much.
