14 June - Germany Trip Part 5 (Day 147)

I had nothing much to do in the airport and hence took out the book to read. It was still about Christianity but still quite interesting. While checking in, the lady at the counter questioned my purpose of going France. She said my VISA had some problem and wanted to see my air ticket back to SG. I told her it was in France. The same issue occurred when I entered Munich. I had to tell them that my SG passport allows me to travel in any part of EU for up to 90 days. They then will check in their system or online about this fact. Really, SG passport is not that powerful after all. And Swiss Airline really is not very professional. For 2 times they had change the boarding gates. But good thing was they give Swiss chocolate on board.
While transiting at Zurich airport, there was a thunderstorm and our flight was delayed for 45min! I had a train to catch in Paris and would really be in deep shit if I were to miss it. It was the last train. When I arrived at Paris airport, I regretted not bringing my backpack on board. I was too lazy to drag it up the plane. Hence I wasted another 10min waiting at the luggage collection and was horrified to see that my backpack was completely wet.
I rushed to take the airport express at 755pm but they told me the bus would only leave in 20min time. And it would take 1hr to reach the train station. My last train was at 905pm. Dead. They told me to take the cab and get a refund of the bus ticket later. I hoped on the taxi and told the driver that I needed to get to Montparnasse by 9pm. He driver was still happily driving slowly, taking his own sweet time until I tapped his shoulder and showed him my train ticket and a note I wrote in French.
“Paris Montparnasse, avant 2100hrs. Train!”

That was when he realised my urgency and started to speed and overtaking other cars. Once the taxi reached Paris city centre, it was slowed down by the traffic again. Dead. Sure die. In the end, I reached the train station at 903pm. The taxi fare was a freaking 53euros. Over $100! Costliest taxi I ever taken! But I couldn’t care. I ran to the platform, punched my ticket, jumped onto the train before the door closed. Yet another exciting train adventure.

On the train ride back, I begin thinking about the happenings over the past 4 days in Germany. Some of the things I found out:

1. People there are: Tall and big size. Girls not pretty. French girls more beautiful
2. Language: Difficult. Very long words. But English is very common.
3. Food: Beer and sausages. And very salty.
4. City: More traffic, more modern. Less medieval stuffs. Bustling night life.
5. Culture: people don’t kiss on cheeks, don’t shake hands.
6. History: WWII, Berlin Wall, Prussia
7. Experience: Youth hostel, transportation.
8. XP: Great to do some catching up with someone. She is still quite mysterious. Knew nothing much about her. Just a bit more. Very easy-going and soft kind of girl. No big emotions.
9. Spent a lot. Entire trip plus air tickets, train, etc. about 600 euros.

PS: After returning to Singapore, I met up with XP a few times and had become closer. Through her, I got to know other canoeing girls like lin and shihui, and had been in touch now and then.