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September 6th, 2004
Le Havre, France
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Today, we woke up and explored Le Havre. This was my first time in a city that didn't speak English. At least we know some French so it wasn't too bad. I can't wait to see what happens when we get to every other country where I don't have a clue about the language.
We bought some cheese, bread, meat and raspberry wine cooler and sat at at Le Havre Universite and relaxed for awhile waiting for our train to Barcelona via Paris.
We also stopped at a cafe for a drink before the train ride. The waitress didn't understand when we tried to tip her, but she seemed surprised and grateful.
The train ride to Paris was quite scenic and I took a lot of photos. The train overlooked quite a few small French towns and countryside.
In Paris, all I got to see was the tip of the Eiffel Tower from the train, then the metro and three train stations. The train to Barcelona we wanted was full so we had to wait two hours to take another overnight one. The train left at 10:25pm and got to the Spanish border at 8:25am.
On the train ride, Sean and Sara went to sleep almost right away, so I hung out with these two French girls, and eventually two other French guys that came aboard the train later. Only one of the French girls, Anaïe, knew any English. She knew only a bit more English than I know French, so we talked in broken French and English to each other for two hours. I had no idea I knew so much French until then. One of the French guys knew a bit of English too so I was able to talk to him a bit. I kept saying travallier to mean travel (it means work) instead of voyager. They kept thinking I had jobs all around the world.
Eventually I went to sleep in the reclining chair.
