Day 2

May 23, Day 2

I had no trouble waking at 6 and preparing to leave before 7. The streets of Paris were quiet and the sun was shining. I had breakfast at the same Basque café: coffee, croissant, crêpe, bread and jam for 6.50. That’s Euros, so it must be about $9 Canadian. But I remember having lots of Parisian breakfasts and even lunches in the early days, for 6F50.

The train station was fairly busy, and there is nowhere to sit in any station these days. I got to the right platform, eventually, and verified with a pleasant agent that this was my train, that while I didn’t have a reserved seat, there were empty ones available, and that my traincar was number 25. So off I went. The first part of the train was going to Brussels, and that was a complete train. Then the train for Dortmund was attached. By about that point, I had found some benches for a sit-down. I carried on, and found my place was in the last door of the last train car, just before the engine, which of course is the front of the train.  I stashed my big suitcase and sank into an empty seat.

The couple already in two of the four seats looked skeptical so I showed them my ticket and told them my story. She was very chatty and wanted to hear my whole story, career, kids, travels, etc. Her husband was quiet but smiling. He picked up on the fact I said we had lived near Geneva, in France, and when his wife paused for breath, he asked me where we had lived. Ferney-Voltaire I said, and Echenevex. Ah, he said, I lived in Echenevex, too, from 1990 to 1995. Turns out he lived in La Table Ronde, and we had lots of memories in common, but didn’t find any people we both knew. Eventually, she took a nap and he read his book, and I got most of the Day 1 blog written. 

I saw some things as we passed through Brussels: some graffiti and other writing on the walls...

Views of central Brussels over the train tracks...

Soon we were in Aachen and Nellie met me on the platform. We took a taxi from the train station up to Nellie’s. She still lives at the top of the hill, and her gardens are wonderfully wild.

We had tea and we talked, then had a light lunch. She insisted I nap, and she was right: I slept for two and a half hours and woke about 4:30. Nellie had been pruning apple trees while I slept and was ready to sit in the sun for a rest. We started talking about the flowers and weeds, and she brought out some books and dictionaries to find the right words in German and English. Her daughter Jenny came over to get a key and found us with books all over the patio table.  So typical!

  

After Jenny went home, we took a walk. We went generally downhill and through the university campus, to a nice café. It was just warm enough to sit outside as we had a drink and some supper, very pleasant and tasty. 

hen we walked back up the hill. I made a lot more stops going up. My foot and leg (left) were complaining, but I was also suffering from all the beautiful chestnut trees, the kind I’m allergic to! My Fitbit has told me two days in a row that I’m an overachiever … my goal for steps is low, but it’s also my usual upper limit before I can expect pain.

When we got home, We sat in the front garden a moment, admiring the flowers and the new grapes Nellie had planted.

Nellie put a little fire on in her little wood stove, and we sat and talked some more. She told me the whole story about meeting a wonderful man last fall, falling in love at first sight, but not seeing him often. He was already being treated for kidney cancer, and getting worse. The last time she saw him was mid-December. He died in February. She has warm and romantic, but still sad, memories of him, and has painted his portrait with the background of a meaningful and romantic landscape. She feels very happy to have known him a little while, but sad that it was so short a friendship.

After all this walking and talking, it was bedtime. We both slept well.