07_07_07/ Day 8

Up moderately early, I felt much better, Helen felt worse. She didn't sleep well because she threw up through the night. I must sleep like a log, I had no idea. we got it together pretty quick as Helen had to catch a bus to Orly airport & a flight to Madrid. poor thing, it was a tough trip for her & of course the bus was delayed, etc.

I had the afternoon to wander & did. my first mission was to find the trainstation I'd be departing from in the evening. The walk to Austerlitz took about an hour & on the way I happened accross a center for the study of evolution. the reliefs on the building showed the progress of man & his kinship with apes. I took tons of pictures.

enroute I also came accross another church of St.Louis. this one was on the grounds of a hospital, the most simple of all I've seen, and completely empty except for the eerie tunes of an organ. if I was ever creeped out by a church it was this one. I kept the fantasies of "american girl butched at altar of St. Louis" to a minimum by telling myself that stuff like that NEVER happens in god's house. I proceeded to make a video of my walk through. the church is huge & solid but various stages of repair are visible all over. again, this is one of my favorites- I think because of it's simplicity, awe-ing size, & vacancy.

after locating the depot I wandered along the Seine (where I saw a lost sofa) and down Boulevard St. Michelle. I stopped at a bookstore, loaded up on info for the next leg of my journey & went home to pack up. On the way home I saw another abandoned sofa, an orange one I had seen a few days prior, but now it had company- a white sleeper. I took pictures for Camille.

then it was off to Austerlitz again. the metro was re-routed,seems, there's a lot of work going on in the tunnels. UN-LIKE my usual self I had allowed for delays in commuting & still arrived early as planned. responsible? planning ahead these days? maybe. a little.

train 409, track 11 to madrid at 19:43 was on time too. I settled in with 1 Peruvian girl who lives in Madrid (25) and 2 girls from Mexico (about 19). they spoke spanish & I could finally understand which was nice. however, the incessant chatter got to me. I've never shared such close quarters with strangers (except maybe momentarily behind the curtain at Cokies) and I didn 't feeling like limping through my limited conversational spanish. I went to the dining car & sat at the last seat on the counter. I drank red wine & wrote in my journal while France flew by outside. It was gorgeous & I highly reccomend train travel but it's also extrememly taxing- it took me an entire day to adjust. I was on my last glass of wine when I met 2 brothers from arizona- patrick & mark. they were funny, we had a drink together, the bar closed down & we snuck off to the front of the train to smoke. we opened up the plastic barrier between cars so the smoke would vent but had a tough time closing it up again. it was an experience to be sure. after the smoke I was invited to their cabin for more drinks but begged of & put myself to bed. I had the good side of the cabin, opposite the door latch. I felt bad for the girl whose head was right next to it- she must not have gotten any sleep. I was also top bunk which I requested but turns out you really don't have any view from there.