OK...But Don't Tell Anyone - Cherbourg, France

                     

I arrived in Cherbourg, France as the sun set. Got a cab at the station, went to the hotel. Walked down the street, found a likely restaurant. Ordered a beer and great salad.

It was a long, but good day on the trains from Unna, Germany to Cherbourg.

I was motioned to a seat at the window in the small restaurant. The waitress spoke no English...I no French.

I pointed, I ordered, the owner came over to help me get on their wifi ("we-fee" in this part of the world.) She didn't speak English either....I had learned no French since entering her establishment 10 minutes before...so we were even.

I'm on the French Coast...there is a ferry here to England. A YouTube video that I watched a couple months ago seemed to indicate that the English hop on the ferry and come over to France and have a holiday.

Judging by the amount of English spoken in this city....I'd say that not that many citizens of England come over.

In any case, the town appears to be charming. So I walked around. The last place I saw before I went back to my hotel was the above church....and when I awoke this morning and looked out my window, (from the 5th floor)....I could see the church clock tower about four blocks away...over the tops of the other buildings.

       

Americans continually marvel that one can zip through several countries on the train in Europe in the time it takes to read a long article in the newspaper. I think this was Belgium.

         

And a few hours later I made a dash across a bit of Paris from one train station to the other in order to resume my journey. Someone commented that this display/art has all the time zones within it.....OK....sure. I think that may be so.

                     

But that artwork was right outside of Saint Lazare RR station...and I had to catch a train....and while it seems criminal to spend all of 45 minutes in Paris....that's just what I did.

 The agent at the Thalys Rail Line...which I took..told me in Düsseldorf that I would enter Paris on the train at the Paris Nord Station. I would have to take the Metro to Paris- St. Lazare RR Station to catch the train to Cherbourg, France. "It's easy!" She assured me. Though I noted that she was German and lived and worked in Düsseldorf.

But she was nice, the Thalys office (which I just sort of stumbled upon while waiting in Düsseldorf Station) was bright and modern. I noted a fine "Thalys Customer Lounge" at the back of the office....it looked warm and welcoming and "hi-tech-y" on a gray, rainy morning.

I considered that I was now a Thalys customer and maybe I qualified for the "Thalys Customer Lounge."

But, alas.....I did not....I wasn't a Premium Customer of Thalys. Considering that I had never even heard of Thalys until two days before, I wasn't surprised that they did not consider me a "Premium Customer" of their exclusive club.

But, there was no one in the place but her and the other agent across the room who was diligently examining her computer.

The agent looked at the empty Customer Lounge and smiled and gave me the wifi password and said, "Don't tell anyone!"

I felt like I had concluded clandestine meeting to overthrow an evil dictator and besides, who could I tell...I don't speak German.

So..Get on the train...arrive in Paris....negotiate the two stations and one Metro System...get on the Thalys train in Paris (secure in the knowledge that I had been but for two hours a member of the "Thalys Customer Loyalty Program" and I'm betting that no one else in the RR car held that distinction.) Drive through places like Bayeux with the ethereal Cathedral beckoning.

               

It is both great fun....and a forlorn feeling...to enter a city for the first time at night.

             

Cities and towns always look more foreboding at night....even in the glow of streetlights and neighborhood bars. Perhaps the enhanced fellowship of everyone gathering at a pub or restaurant makes for a sense of loneliness and outsider-ness.

But, I like the romance of it all.

        

The Frenchd couple next to me in the Italian Restaurant (yes, yes, I know....) greeted me with "Bonjour".....I bonjoured them back and added...."Good evening".....to save them the embarrassment of striking up a long conversation and then realizing I was not a native.

              

But we "conversed' a bit about the sirens and police outside....and about their rather delicious looking desserts...the man indicated that he had had too much to eat....they wished me "Au revoir" as they left....I did the same. I paid, I tipped. I went out the door.

                

These photos don't really show the number of folks who were at the restaurants and pubs...it didn't seem right to snap photos of locals as they gathered for a night out...but trust me....Cherbourg has got it goin' on.....I enjoyed my walk.

        

By morning light I will walk to the main quay and actually see the Ocean down the street. I like the notion of being on the coast and of having negotiated the trains from Copenhagen through a bunch of Western European countries and ending for moment, in Cherbourg. I also had a lot of people give me advice and help me do that negotiating. I do little of this by myself, though I remain a solitary traveler.

And unknown to most....I am, probably, the only Two-hour-"Loyal-Customer-Member" of the Thalys Family, here in Western Europe. I'll cherish that.

Please don't tell anyone.

Peace,  Bob