We had to get up “early” this morning (9am) so that we could have some breakfast before I drove Alison home. Yes, you read that correctly: I DROVE Alison home! I managed to drive all the way to Capbreton in the stick shift! I did stall a few times on the way there, but it went pretty well…until we got just outside her apartment. I stalled out just as I was about to turn the corner. I re-started and stalled again almost immediately…in the center of the intersection (a small one). It was then that several cars came up behind me. I waved them by, and then some showed up across the street. So, I waved those by as well. Of course, a police car pulled up to the stop sign across the street. I immediately gave them a big smile and waved them by as well…and they just turned and drove off! YES! I still can’t believe I did that! But, I made it back to Tyrosse with no major issues!
I finished cleaning the house, bought some baguettes so that my host family would have some when they got home, and headed to the train station to go to Bordeaux to pick up Maria!
The train was packed. They obviously just kept selling tickets, even though the seats were already taken. So, when I got on, there were people standing in the areas between the cars and several of us headed into the car and just stood in the aisle. At each stop on the way to Bordeaux, more people would try to get on, but we were literally squashed in! It was insane. I spent a lot of the ride sitting on the floor in the aisle, reading “The Princess Bride.”
When I got to Bordeaux (2 hours later), I had to wait for the shuttle bus to the airport. While waiting, I spotted a trio of Mormons! So, naturally, I had to listen to “The Book of Mormon” on my iPod all the way to the airport… :)
Maria’s flight was late and when it arrived, she still had to get her baggage and it was super bizarre because the baggage claim was behind a glass wall. We could see each other, but we could only wave and make faces while she waited…for about 20 minutes! Her bag was the second to last one that came out. Wow.
After a huge hug, we ran to the shuttle bus that was supposed to have left 5 minutes before and managed to get a ride back to the train station. We had a long wait for our train to get back to Tyrosse (in addition, it was late), but it gave us lots of time to catch up! It was almost weird how un-weird it was to be hanging out. It’s been over 3 months since we’ve been together, but it was just like normal!
Our train stopped in Dax, but since it was late, we had missed the last connecting train to Tyrosse. After calling Catherine (who didn’t answer), we asked a guy at the station, who told us there were taxis taking everyone to Tyrosse. We hoped that we wouldn’t have to pay and just hopped in! As we watched the price tick up and up, we kept exchanging glances…I only had 27 euros and the final price was 60 euros! Luckily, the taxi driver informed us when we arrived in Tyrosse that SNCF (the train service) was paying because it was their mistake! So, he dropped us in front of my house!
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