"Girls' Day" Saturday – Part 1: Train Adventures

David is off on his annual bike trip with his 3 buddies, so Nathalie, our landlady and friend, invited me (Anna) to spend a “Girls’ Day” with her.  Since Nathalie and Stephane live a little way from Lyon, I needed to take the SNCF (Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer, the French railroad system) to get there and back.  It was the first time I’d done that alone, but we printed my tickets ahead of time, and David walked me through the process before he left. I felt quite confident that I could do it with no problem.  Nathalie would be waiting for me at the other end, and the train ride was less than 30 minutes long.  Piece of cake!


La Gare Part Dieu
train station-a short walk from our apartment

I got to Gare Part Dieu early, bought a local paper, and watched the screen to find out which track my train would be on. 


Departure Screen
 shows train's number, status (on time, delayed),
arrival time, destinations, and track it will be on

When the track was posted, I went to my train, got on a second class car, and pulled out my paper to wait for departure.  The engine had started, and everything looked good for an on-time departure.  Then the engine stopped, and our car’s attendant got on the PA system and said something in rapid-fire French.  About all I could pick out was “tard” (late).  Some passengers left, but most just sighed and took out smart phones, books, or papers.  I waited until she was done talking with other people and went up to her and explained (in French) that I was American and I was sorry but I understood French best when people spoke slowly, would she mind repeating again.  She gave me a big smile and replied that she spoke English, but only slowly.  (At that point she got on the “New Best Friend” list!)  She looked at my ticket, and told me this train was delayed, but I could catch another train that would get me to my destination sooner than this one would.  My ticket would be good for that train, too.  So I rushed off, back into the station, and up another lane to the track the 2^nd train was on.  I got there just in time to see all the doors close and the train leave.


A regional, Rhône-Alpes train similar to "my" train

I walked back into the station and back to the track my original train was on to check back in with my attendant.  She was talking with about four other SNCF employees, at least two of whom were talking at the same time. (I’ll never understand how they do it, but the French do that a lot, and it seems to work for them.)  There was a lot of gesturing, checking of watches, and shrugging of shoulders.  I waited until my SNCF lady was alone, and asked for an update.  It seemed there was a problem with the engine; they were checking it now and would tell us in about 10 minutes what the prognosis was.  If they couldn’t get this engine to work properly, they would put all of us on another train.  (I should point out that by this time many of the other passengers had disappeared and were presumably already on other trains.)  A couple of other passengers near me made sure I was kept up to date on all announcements by translating them into English or Franglish (my real second language!) for me.  Everyone was so kind and thoughtful – now if we could just get the train to move…

At this point I made a quick phone call to Nathalie to let her know I would be late and tell her what I knew about the train.  She was already at the station, ready to pick me up (it’s less than a ½ hour trip, remember), and saw on the screen that my train was delayed ½ hour.  She assured me that it was no problem for her to wait since she had downloaded her current favorite TV series and was happily watching her show.

Suddenly, the engine started up and my SNCF lady smiled and announced that we would be leaving immediately.  A couple of passengers rushed back onto the train car, and we were off.  The rest of my “½ hour train ride” went smoothly. I soon arrived at my destination and saw Nathalie coming towards me at the station with a huge smile on her face.

<"Girls' Day" Saturday to be continued>