N decided on the spur of the moment on Thursday to fly up to Oslo for a party this weekend. He found a flight on Norwegian airlines for 24 euros, leaving from "Paris-Beauvais." The round-trip ticket on the bus to Beauvais costs more than the flight (26 euros)!
The catch is that Beauvais is not anywhere near Paris. It's halfway from here to Calais, the Channel ferry port, up near Amiens, at least an hour and a half north of Paris with no traffic.
I went with him to the bus stop near Porte Maillot at the crack of dawn and witnessed a typically French encounter. There were several buses to Beauvais, each one for a different flight: Venice, Oslo, Barcelona, Dublin, etc. The other buses left and N's bus was the only one in the parking lot. By ones and twos, the passengers who had missed the bus to Venice or Barcelona would come running up through the long parking lot with their roll-on luggage, or their backpacks, while the two young bus-transfer guys lounged nonchalantly on the doorsteps of the bus, which is not marked in any way-- it's a blank bus.
"Is this the bus to Beauvais?" they would ask. Most of them did not speak either French or English as a native language-- lots of Japanese, Italians, Spaniards; the Norwegians were all punctually inside the bus by this time, their hair glowing golden through the windows.
"For which flight?" the bus-transfer man would ask.
"Venice," or "Barcelona."
The bus-transfer men would grin at each other. "You are too late," one would say. "That bus has left. Ha ha ha ha!"
This is what people think of as the French attitude, making fun of the poor unfortunate tourist. And it's true-- they were, and that is very French. But what followed is also very French.
"Mont-les quand même! Get them on board anyway. Otherwise they'll have to pay les yeux de la tête [the eyes out of their head] for a taxi.... You are veree late, you know! You reesk meessing your flight. Come on, come on. Get een. Get een!" The men waited several times for last-minute arrivals glimpsed running from the far end of the parking lot, as the Norwegians looked pointedly at their watches. Finally the two of them swung off the bus and waved, and the Irish-looking driver got in and drove off. I had a warm feeling toward them after seeing their kindness in spite of their harsh words.
N called from Oslo a few hours later. "The girls here are soooo beautiful! The girl at the Bureau de Change looked like a fashion model! It's really expensive here though. A lot more expensive than France. I don't think they get a lot of tourists in January. People think I'm Norwegian. Several people have asked me for directions already!"
Hi, nice blog. I never cease to be amazed how Eric's Paris Daily Photo serves as a focus of like minded people and opens up interesting avenues through the mire of blogdom.
Ham
From Sedulia: Thanks! I love the daily photo too. Much better than mine!
Posted by: Ham | 07 January 2006 at 13:11