The train ride to Aix-les-Bains was about 2.5 hours, and other than the fact that it was very hot, it was a lovely ride. As we were boarding the train, I spotted a paddler from the Vancouver, WA team and said hi. She and her husband ended up sitting right across from us, and there were three other dragon boaters (from Australia and Canada I believe) in the seats behind us. I thought I had reserved us window seats facing each other, but when we got to our seats there were two French women in the window seats. I’m not sure how it started, but we began to chat, me in my limited French, and the younger woman in French and English. She translated for her mother (I think it was her mother) and that way we all had a conversation. I was so delighted to be speaking with French people and managing it.

I did study French in the year leading up to this trip, but at one point it began to look like Mary might not be able to come and I got demoralized and quit. I only took it back up a month or so ago, and was worried I wouldn’t be able to converse. In fact, I’ve done great, and am so proud of myself every time I am able to communicate fully in French.

The younger woman asked where we were going and I said we were going to Aix-les-Bains for the dragon boat festival. They weren’t sure what a dragon boat is, so I showed them a picture.

I explained that there will be 40 different countries and 4500 paddlers. They wanted to know where we are from, and couldn’t quite place Oregon geographically, so I pulled up a map on my phone and also showed them a photo of Mt. Hood because one of them had asked if we had mountains. They also occasionally pointed out what we were looking at. It was so delightful.

At one point I left the car to go sit in the vestibule, which was marginally cooler. There was a little bench seat, next to the bathroom. A little later, the older woman came to use the bathroom and pointed to the bathroom to ask if I was waiting. I shook my head and said, “Je suis trop chaud,” which I believe means I am too hot. She nodded and said, “Oui! Oui!”

The stop before Aix-les-Bains is Chambery, and I believe Aix-les-Bains is 15 minutes or so later. The train started up again after Chambery and then began to go back in the direction we had come. All the dragonboaters around us began to voice their concerns. I was wondering too if something bad was happening. Eventually I asked my new French amie. She and her mother both laughed and explained that Aix-les-Bains was a branch off of the route and we were indeed going in the right direction. There was still a lot of consternation among the paddlers, so I loudly announced, “We are not going in the wrong direction.” My new Vancouver paddler friend said, “We aren’t?” and I said, “no.” Then Mary added, “She says C’est normal,” indicating my new friend. Then everyone, including the two French ladies, began to laugh.

When we got to Aix, I said to our seat mates, ,” Enchantee, Bon voyage et Au Revoir.” She seemed amused by this. I’m sure I was not putting everything together correctly. She wished us luck in our races and I said, “Come watch,” because earlier she had said they might. I was very happy about our 2.5 hours together.

From the train station it was a very short walk to our lovely hotel. I have to get ready now for our first practice on Lac Bourget, but I hope to have time to write more later.