when i last left you, i'd been talking about our lovely days spent in nice and monaco. on the last day in southern france, helen and i decided to ditch nice and catch the train to cannes, just for a change of pace. it was on the way back to paris, anyways (we were catching a night train back to pah-ree, for the next morning we'd be going to rennes and mont st. michel).
after having one last bowl of nutella cereal, helen and i got to the train station. while waiting for the train, i was bored, and took the following picturre:
for some reason, i think train stations are cool-looking. so there you go.after a pretty train ride, we made it into cannes in the early afternoon. it was sunny and warm outside, so we happily explored the town. a lot of it was designer shops and beachside restaurants, but we also saw the theater where they screen films for the festival:
supreme french cheeze.like some sort of crazed addict, helen couldn't get enough sun. after walking quite a ways down the beach boardwalk, and seeing many topless ladies, helen decided to join them--fully clothed. meanwhile, i needed to find shade, so i plopped down on a bench and read for a while. after lunching at a nearby restaurant (which was hilarious, becuase i ordered a sandwich, and they gave it to me in a paper bag on a plate), we resumed our lounging.
finally in the REAL riviera! but i do miss the hollywood riviera i call home
hm, no nudity in this one. sorry!
cannes streetonce separated, things began to get a bit sketchlicious for me. i was reading in a little park, close to the beach, when a 30-something man approached me. he didn't really speak english, just gestured towards my book as if to ask what i was reading. he seemed nice, and i was in a public place, so i figured nothing could really come of it. i showed him the title, we attempted to communicate, and largely failed. he smiled and walked away, and i pretended to read further, but couldn't help but feel like something else was going to happen.
sure enough, ten minutes later he returned with a friend. the friend had some of the worst teeth i'd ever seen, which i (rather unfairly) ALWAYS take as a sign of a villain.
with my hand firmly on my purse, i cautiously chatted with them for a few minutes--kind of. their english wasn't amazing, and i don't speak a lick of french. for a bizarre reason, i felt like i couldn't tell them my real name, so i said my name was "claire"--as if that would help if they decided to drag me off!
the first guy left, leaving mr. teeth behind with me. he sat next to me, and introduced himself as dimitri...but he kept insisting, "NO RUSSIAN!" he was from cannes, and we talked about his family, politics ("BUSH BAD! OBAMA GOOD!"), where we'd been traveling, etc. he was actually really nice, and we ended up chatting for about 40 minutes. he kept inviting me to drinks, and saying i was "tres beautiful," (LOL, skeaze) but there was no way in hades i was leaving that bench.
after awhile, the first guy came back, with another guy, as well. with the three of them in front of me, i began to feel a little panicky, but didn't know what i could do. i was already somewhere public, there were people around, and it was broad daylight. i figured the best thing to do would be to stay put. after conspiring together in french, they attempted to ask me something, but didn't know how to say it. i have the feeling it was something wildly inappropriate, because they kept giggling and looking guilty. then, when the two left, dimitri insisted that he didn't even know them, and that they weren't friends. so i have a feeling they were being lechers!
i knew helen would be coming back soon, and i couldn't wait to see her face when she saw me talking with a random older man. sure enough, as she approached, her face was frozen with shock and terror. she shook hands with dimitri, as did i, then we got the heck outta dodge. on the way to the train station, we both kept cracking up at what had happened...but there was more waiting for us in paris.
lucky us, we had first-class train tickets, so we enjoyed our luxury carriage during the 5 hour train ride. we got into paris at 11:30pm, and had 7.5 hours to kill before getting on our 7am train. we hadn't booked a hostel, so with bags in tow, we hit the town. in the metro station, a homeless man decided to sit on the bench next to us, repeatedly ask for money despite our uncomfortable "no's," and smoke a really stinky homemade cigarette. we were ready for some wine at that point.
we had done some research, and knew of a restaurant open 24-hours. hilariously, it was l'atelier, the place we had eaten at a few days before! not shunted into the back this time, we plopped down at an outside table and rubbed shoulders with hip parisians. we got a bottle of house rose, and nursed it for the next four hours. we just chatted and people-watched, but towards the end were both drifting into zombie-like states of conciousness.
we finally decided to try to get to the train station and sleep, so we packed up and walked down rue de la montparnasse. on the way, another homeless man called out to us, and began to follow us down the street. we both started panicking, and practically ran away, eventually losing him. being girls, at 4am, we were steely-faced and ready to fight whoever threatened us, haha.
we made it to the just-opened train station at 4:30, and were disappoitned to find that the benches had immovable arm rests separating the seats, probably in an effort to discourage tramps like helen and me from sleeping there. as we walked into the station, we were met with a pretty dismal scene--tired vagrants littered the benches, curled up into their seats. helen and i found a bench a bit apart from the rest, and i intwined myself in my backpack and purse while helen braved the disgusting floor.
for the next hour, drifting in and out of our panicky dozings, helen and i watched through half-closed eyes as people walked past us, staring. there was a guy behind us who wouldn't break his gaze. another guy came and sat right next to us, despite the vast amount of empty seats elsewhere. he then left, and an hour later came back, to the same spot. things were getting weird, and once helen and i "woke up," it worsened. a haggard man came up to helen, leaned into her face, and leeringly asked, "francais?" and then, "anglais?" helen practically screamed, "NO!" then as he stalked off, she dissolved into shrill, hysterical laughter. i was suppressing my laughter, because i didn't want any more attention drawn to us. we were sticking out like really tired, scared sore thumbs.
bursting with wine and water, eventually helen had to go to the bathroom. she left me with our things, and hurried off to find it. as soon as she left, a scary man (who might have only had one arm, i couldn't tell) approached, and tried to speak to me in french. i shook my head, making him mime long hair on himself and repeat "cheveux, cheveux, cheveux," which i assumed to mean "hair." i started feeling really uncontrollably angry at that point, at all the men who wouldn't leave us the hell alone, so i uttered a snarling, "NO" and glared at him until he walked away.
of course, when he left, the guy who insisted on sitting next to us came back. he tried to speak to me in french, as well, and i just shook my head at him and turned away. it was just completely ridiculous. finally, helen came back, and when i told her about what had happened, i confessed, "i was so upset i almost cried!"
at that point, we were both in a pretty healthy state of delirium, so we started to laugh at how pathetic i was, and laughed and laughed, loudly and hysterically, causing everyone to look at us. we tried and tried to stop, but couldn't--we'd catch our breath, and calm down for a second, then one of us would start again, and it would begin all over again. my stomach was all bunched up, and i was half-crying, but the laughing didn't cease for ten long minutes.
finally, calmed down, helen was hungry. she pulled out a baguette (remember, i told you not to forget about them!) that she had bought the day we went to nice. with a half-crazed look on her face, she pulled out the rock of bread, and spluttered out, "I'VE BEEN SAVING THIS BREAD FOR THREE DAYS!" which of course made us launch into more insane peals of laughter. i had to bury my face in my hands, and cried/laughed into them as quietly as i could.
much to our relief (and probably those around us), finally our train came into the station. we gleefully picked up our bags, said adieu to all of the mofos who had been hassling us, and boarded. at last, i felt like i could relax. i leaned my head against the window, and thanked my lucky stars that we'd made it through the night.
...with all the sketchiness (hopefully?) behind us, we made our way to rennes, which i'll tell you about in the next post. for now, i'm all storied-out, and need to do some birthday celebrating! thanks for reading our harrowing tales (parents, i hope you didn't pee yourselves too much). i'm off, but shall return faster than you can say "cheveux."
exactly 21 years old,
lilly
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