This may come a a shocker to some of you.
I don't plan well....or sometimes at all
And this is a follow up to Jan 16, It's a French Tradition, entry.
Basically, Jackie and I were on a train from Paris to Normandy to see the American Cemetery and Omaha Beach.
We went to Bayeux, if my memory is correct. According to the guide books there is a bus right across from the train that goes to the cemetery. So I was a little surprised to not see a bus, or a company that supposed to have an office, where it should have been.
I stood looking around and met four young Americans. They too were going to the American Cemetery, so we decided to share a taxi. It was 20 Euro, so we split the cost.
The youngin's said they were going to hike from Omaha to Pointe du Hoc and then to Utah Beach, sleeping on the beach at night. They also heard of the beach to beach bus.
We reached the cemetery and everyone got out. We were there probably 45 minutes when a fog rolled in. This was a very thick fog. You literally could not see more than 15 feet ahead of you.
I figured it was time to find the bus and motor up to Pointe du Hoc.
Pointe du Hoc is a high bluff overlooking the English Channel. On D-Day, a group of 225 Army Rangers were given the task of scaling the 100 ft bluff and capturing the huge German guns that were there. The guns were capable of blowing up the boats as they neared the landing zone. When they did finally fight their way to the top, the survivors found the guns were really telephone poles painted black. 135 of the Rangers were killed or wounded. The Germans had already moved the real guns. Faulty intelligence is not a modern problem.
So, looking around, I did not see a bus stop. I went into the cemetery office where the American woman looked at me with a blank stare when I said I was looking for the beach bus. It finally dawned on her that I wanted the summer bus that ran on weekends and made unscheduled stops along an undefined route. This was Thursday. When I asked how I can get to Pointe du Hoc, she suggested a taxi.
I said to Jackie, "We are going to take a taxi there."
"How much will that cost?" she asked.
So I asked the taxi driver, the same guy who brought us out, and he said, "Maybe 20 Euro."
So we got in.
As we are heading down the roads, small roads, through small villages, I check my wallet. I have 30 Euro plus some coins.
We had been on the road 10 minutes, the meter hit. 15 E. 20 minutes hit hit 23 E. When it hit 30 Euro, Jackie asked, "How much money do you have?"
"No problem there has to be an ATM there."
When it hit 30 Euro, she started to cry. "We are going to be in trouble. How will you pay? How will we get back? What if there is no ATM?" And she cried some more.
We arrived at Point du Hoc, with a 32 E tab on the meter. There was not an ATM in sight. We had not passed through a town, village, intersection that had one. We were in deep do do. or merde as the French call it.
She looked at the meter and began crying again. "How will we get back? We don't have any money?"
The driver turned around and looked at us. His face honestly softened. "For you, I wait here 45 minutes. You get out, come back. I take you back to Bayeux. 30 Euro."
I gulped. "You mean this 30 plus another 30?"
He smiled. "No, 30 Euro. Total. That's all."
It was with great relief that we got out of the car, wandered around the battle ground, checked out the German bunkers, looked down the bluff, and got back into the cab.
Back in Bayeux, I gave him my 30 Euro....and Jackie had another 5, so we gave him that as a thank you.
I did say I was sad we did not get to Omaha Beach. Jackie looked at me and said, "We were right above it. Didn't you see it?"
The fog and obscured the beach. I didn't even know it was there.
By now it was about 4 p.m. We had not eaten or had anything to drink since getting on the train that morning.
I had some change in my pocket....Euros come in 1 and 2 Euro coins....and managed to buy one Coke and two ham and cheese (jambon au fromage) sandwiches from a shop across from the train station. We wandered around the town for a while, I never did find an ATM. Luckily, I bought round trip tickets.
We went back to Paris and our hotel and once in the City of Lights, I hit the cash machine.
Now when we do a trip, I take plenty of Euros...or Francs.....or dollars.
But I still am a little weak on planning.
No comments:
Post a Comment