Born to be wild...


For the past couple of months, I've been taking the TGV to Geneva on an regular basis and was expecting to follow the same routine on Friday. Run to the metro, grab a sandwich at the train station and jump on the TGV just as the doors are closing. It's unfortunate that I didn't have a Plan B because I somehow missed the news that all of the TGVs had been diverted to Gare du Nord since they're currently renovating Gare de Lyon. All that remained of the once bustling station was the clock and screens showing the times of the departing trains. How ironic!


Distraught and close to tears because I was supposed to meet Stephane in Geneva for an important family gathering, I was relieved when a leather clad stranger told me that he was heading towards Switzerland and offered me a ride. Noting the "Support Your Local Hells Angels - Paris" bumpersticker, I remembered the good times astride my brothers' Harley-Davidsons and readily agreed.


The only problem was that my knight in shining armor (or black leather!) didn't have room for my suitcase. Not wanting to miss my appointment with Stephane, I left my Delsey next to the side of the road. I can only hope that it's still there when I return to Paris this evening.

Happy April Fool's Day, everyone! Or, as they say in French, Poisson d'Avril. Just to set the record straight, it's the Gare d'Austerlitz that is currently undergoing renovations.

Comments

  1. Ah you got me too!!!! I thought you had lost it...either that or I'm that buzzed off of my glass of cremant that I'm sipping on. Good one MK! : )

    Knowing that it was Song Sunday here at Out and About in Paris and your mention of Harley Davidson, I was almost SURE that your video was going to be this:


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ai2As4XFZDY

    A fun little ditty for you on this Sunny Sunday! Have a good one! :)

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    1. Thanks, Ella! I hope that you had a wonderful Sunny Sunday, too!

      I tried to watch the Brigitte Bardot link but got this message:

      This video contains content from The Orchard Music, INA - Institut National de l'Audiovisuel and UMG, one or more of whom have blocked it in your country on copyright grounds.
      Sorry about that.

      So I watched a different one. You're right, it would have been the perfect video for the post but I didn't know about this song. Thanks for the introduction! I love the French pronunciation of "Harley Davidson"!

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  2. Happy 1 year blogging anniversary!! You almost got me, except I was pretty sure you wouldn't leave your suitcase...

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    1. What's funny (scary?!) is that you didn't doubt that your mother would get on a Harley Davidson with a stranger... But you're right about my suitcase, I can't imagine leaving my Delsey behind.

      Thanks for the happy blogaversary wishes!

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  3. Hey you got me going there too....I was thinking, surely she is more sensible than that!...but it reminded me of the time last year when I ( sensible, older, female, British traveller!)...foolishly accepted a lift on my own, in Poland, in the middle of the countryside from a German couple, I did not know, in a Mercedes!

    As I sat in the back, it occurred to me that they MAY just be serial killers trawling the country for vulnerable solo strangers.......and then reading THIER body language in the front, I realised they were thinking that I MIGHT just be a serial killer waiting for victims to come along!

    NO April fool, I lived to tell the tale, but we were ALL palpably relieved when we all got to Krakow alive!

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    1. Denise, I had such a good laugh at the thought of anyone thinking that you might be a serial killer. Of course, you know that I'm going to want to hear the prequel to this story the next time that we're together. What were you doing on your own in the middle of the Polish countryside accepting rides from strangers?! I'm glad to hear that you made it to Krakow in one piece!

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  4. You got me up to the mention of the Hells Angels, which was definitely a red flag, and then your leaving your suitcase by the side of the road? Not likely! Nevertheless, it was a good tale!

    Regards,

    Patricia H

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    1. All good deductions! I saw the Hells Angels sticker while I was walking to the Gare de Lyon and took a photo because I'm always surprised that there's a chapter in Paris. They even have their own office space in the 18th arrondissement (not an April Fool's joke, I promise).

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  5. I'm going to put it down to my exhaustion, but I bought this part and parcel! Well done.

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    1. Thanks, Joseph. Sounds like you had a busy weekend - I hope that it was a successful one as well.

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  6. You got me going too! Hope you had a nice uneventful 1st April in the end.

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    1. April 1 was completely uneventful. No sheep suppositories (I'm still reeling from the sight of that thing on your blog!) Harley Davidsons or left behind suitcases!

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  7. And you got me too!!!!!!!!!! Four days later :) Wonderful
    I actually HAD the visit of a business friend's wife who just didn't show up where and when her husband awaited her (and us because we had invited them for dinner and neither of the three turned up)... When, with about an hour and half delay, Hero Husband brought them home in his car, she told me that she had no idea that she REALLY should have been at the hotal at such and such time and because she couldn't haul a taxi at the airport, she 'took' a bike-taxi (a thing I didn't even know it existed), high heels, tight skirt AND suitcase .... and helmet! It sounds like an April fool's story but is totally true.
    We gave a concert on April 1st, so didn't realise it was Poisson d'Avril Day - except that somebody stuck a hand-painted fish on the back of our '2nd conductor's coat' for the ENCORE!!! He never found out why he was such a huge success...
    AND it would have been my father's birthday, if he were still alive!
    Bonne nuit

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  8. I've seen the motorcycle taxis in town but can't quite imagine how the wife of your husband's colleague managed to travel on one in a skirt and heels. And what did she do with her suitcase?!? That really does sound like an April Fool's Day story.

    The someone who stuck the painted fish on the back of the 2nd conductor wasn't you by any chance, was it?! ;)

    I've always liked April Fool's Day and think that it must have been a good/happy day for your father to have been born, although I bet that people probably teased him about it.

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