and can you believe....

I am siting on a train from Paris to London, all reserved seats, and a woman sits right beside me.

We get chatting, she asks me where I have been, I tell her Greece....she looks excited and says she has been to Greece....we remnisce together.

I say Spain,,,,
she says Spain...
I say the UK....she says the UK
i say Prague..(well you get the idea....parallel paths for sure).....we giggle

then she asks me where I am from, I say Canada

...she says she is from western Canada

I say I am from western Canada

....asks what city...

I tell her Victoria

she says she is from Victoria...

asks me whereabouts, I say Quadra and M.....she gets soooooo excited now, she also comes from my hood......we can't believe it.
I have not met very many western Canadians in my travels and this was right from my backyard.

We spent a lovely train ride comparing notes, sharing chocolate and giggling....the time went very fast and then we said goodbye.

These are the moments that make it all so special...the perosnal connections that come and then fleetingly go, but make permanent footprints on our journey

More to come...

and now the little things that made it all so special...

I spent a fair bit of time creating a broad picture to reflect upon here in this blog.
Now I am home, and the individual moments are what are sharp in my mind's eye.

The next series of posts will be to honour some of those people who are a part of the fabric of this European Tapestry.

( I do not have any pics from train stations as I did not feel safe to reach into my bag and pull out my camera.
You will have to use your imaginations as to the magical grey, cold, misty veil that hangs over a European train station at night., making the pavement glimmer like molten silver)

1st...Kosovo.
Standing in a train station in Cologne, waiting for a train to Prague, late...ugh very late in the evening, I am surprised by the amount of other people waiting for trains. I find out from a kind young man who speaks English, that all the trains are at least an hour late due to an accident on the tracks. He also confirms I have found the correct platform as nowhere does it say......Prague.
We start chatting and I notice an elderly couple are watching our conversation with smiles on their faces.

My new young friend also speaks a language they understand, and while he translates two languages, neither one his first language, we discover they are from Kosovo and very interested in Canada.
We all chat like old friends for about 45 minutes, talk of our homelands, of politics and survival. You can see thye have survived much.
This all results in this wonderful couple inviting me to their home in Kosovo and hoping I make it their after Prague, insisting we share their delicious home cooked picnic of sausages, baguette, cheese and flask of wine, I shared my patisserie, and they gave me their address and phone number.

I was unable to get there this time, but what an amazing gift to have known such a warm welcome and to have made such dear friends to break bread with.

Train and bureacracy..just shoot me, train lesson for my readers

Well...the week of the train saga continued from ridiculous to the absurd.


I ventured into London and stayed with a friend, D there just outside London on the train ( lots in a future blog on what I got up to)....and while it was lovely there and toodling about London, the big concern were my tickets to prague and the lack of tangible evidence they existed.

I went into the office, as advised to do, on the Sunday...also advised they would be open and the internet said open etc...etc...you can hear where this is going...
IT WAS CLOSED!!!!!!!!. I was soooooooo mad, but I called the call centre number posted on the closed door,( yay cell phone working) and managed to convince a nice woman to let me atleast book and put on hold my tickets......whew....she did thanks to having a UK zip ( thanks reading Room Cottage) I leave London at 17:59...whew...

I planned to go back into london again ( trains each way..then a bus) Monday morning....get tickets...run back to house on train bus etc..pack and have a visit with another friend and then leave for 4:00pm on train, bus again and get started on trip to Prague....whew...okay have plan will travel..good!

Come to Monday morning, I am up and out and at the door to office at opening time 9:00am.......ummmmm they can't book anything til 10:00??????? WTF????? Sooooo I get a coffee and wait.....finally I am in the office.. yes they have my reservation...all is processed and now paid for, and I am going through paperwork......WAIT A MINUTE......WHERE IS THE LONDON TO BRUSSELS CONNECTION>????????????

Yup, that's right....the woman on the phone who read all the connections out to me that I wrote down, read them incorrectly and instead of leaving London at 17:59, I was supposed to be leaving Brussels at 17:59, meaning I would need a connection umm in an hour from London.

OH MY FREAKIN GOD!!!!!! I just wanted to cry, I was sooooo frustrated after almost a week of trying to sort this part of the journey out. I sat dumbfounded while the agent tried everything, including spending the night in Cologne.etc...etc....nope....no way could it happen.......realizing I needed to push the whole thing back to depart on Tuesday and heavy hearted, I called D and told her my woes and my need to stay one more night in her hospitality...sigh...the kindness of people makes it all a little easier...

I then booked the same trip, 24 hours later including the London to Brussels part...gotta hold of my lodging, "the Castlesteps" in Prague who graciously did not charge me for the cancelled night and found me for me for the extra night on the end of the week....


I tell ya.....everwhere else I have been has been smooth and without incident....until England...all this nightmare because they wouldn't take my credit card on the phone and note to all.....you have to book your tickets in person at the regent St office to get anywhere out of London internationally, and the office IS NOT OPEN SUNDAY, no matter what they tell you.

Just shoot me!