Up SO VERY EARLY this morning and off to Paris to Charles de Gaulle airport to take Judi then a series of trains with all our luggage to get to Gare de Lyon to catch our train to Geneva. First class trains are the way to go, I must say. Very roomy and comfortable seats. And very very fast. Most of my pictures today didn’t come out, as going 160 mph tends to blur photos.
I have noticed lately the interesting way that some French people say, “Oui.” Usually it is pronounced “wee,” but lately many people we ran across said it almost like “way.” Or really like "weh" but make it sound more like a baby's cry but very sharp and quick.
Cool sightseeing on the way. Very few fences, I have noticed here in France. Usually just a hedge on the property lines if that. Some homes have high stone walls enclosing the yard—their own little castle. Very pastoral scenes here with all white cows! We passed some vineyards and a field of sunflowers. Then we arrived at our first stop in Bourg en Bresse, after which we began the climb. We went though Rossillon where we could see the Alps in the distance. The mountains even closer were snow covered—not just the tops but entirely!
As we climbed higher, the lakes and rivers took on the bluish-green tint of glacier water and looked so cold and icy. Just before a tunnel, there was a huge stone sign saying something like Genistat du Rhone—when I get on the internet again—I will look this up. We stopped in Bellegarde and many people disembarked here. Next was La Plaine then we were in Geneva! We followed the rest of the passengers thru the terminal where the customs area was waving people through as was the security area. No passport checks. Ray couldn’t find a place to change money back into francs, so we caught a taxi with the 60 francs he had left over from his earlier trip. He told the taxidriver our hotel address and we sat back and watched as Geneva passed by. And by. And by. We kept going and going, seeing lots and lots of watch companies and stores. We saw signs to Annemasse, so we weren’t afraid he was lost. I just hoped we arrived before the meter hit 60 francs!
Then suddenly we were in a line—a line TO CROSS THE BORDER!!! We were leaving Switzerland and going BACK into France!!! When Ray made this reservation, he thought it was much closer to the Geneva train station. And at this border crossing, the border guard just waves us through, also without checking our passports. So we get to the hotel in Annemasse, FRANCE, and have to pay the taxidriver 50 francs. Well, at least we now have Euros to pay for dinner—if there was a restaurant anywhere near—which there isn’t. So I ordered something from the café downstairs and ate in the room while Ray went to the market and bought sandwich foods, including what he thought was smoked salmon for me. But it says “truite fume” which is smoked trout and it says something about needing to cook it for 20 minutes, so I am not going there. Even Ray was afraid to try it, and he eats ANYTHING! AND the internet doesn’t work here, so no Skypeing or posting of my blog, which is getting seriously backed up.
So here we are, in a hotel with no food, no internet, and we don’t know what will happen when we try to cross the border in the morning to go back into Switzerland to take the train to Zermatt. Just in case we end up in prison, it’s been fun. But I so don’t want to end up wearing stripes—so unfashionable. Margaret has told me that all I will have to eat is McDonald’s in prison, which would be such a travesty after all the delicious French food I have experienced lately.
Pictures from top: View out our hotel window of snow-capped mountains; Obama sign—need to translate; bridge in a blur; coughers on train sitting right in front of us as they rush off at first stop to light up again; two trains sneaking a kiss.
