Musings on France, Part 2: The Arrival
Ah, my arrival. There were actually two arrivals—one into Paris, and one at the Chateau. And let’s just say, it’s hard to say which one was more dramatic! When you ask the universe to take you out of your comfort zone…be prepared to be unceremoniously yanked out at full speed!
My flight to Paris was delayed by three hours, which, in turn made our arrival at 9am local time instead of 6am. This messed up the customs line (which was empty at 6am) as five flights arrived at once, causing our wait time to be almost two hours. Oh, and the strap of one of my carryons broke on the flight so I was half dragging one bag while holding the other like a grocery bag out in front of me. It was hot. I had no water. Basically a miserable time. After finally retrieving my (very large) luggage, I was ready to get the hell out of there!
My mission—to catch a cab or the RER to the Gare du L’Est train station for a three hour train ride to Chaumont. For some reason, the chatter on our group chat consensus was that we couldn’t have large luggage on the RER and for some reason I believed them. Mistake numero uno. I pulled my stuff towards the taxi signs and was immediately stopped by some drivers asking where I was going. When I told them, and then told them what time I had to be there, they shook their heads and one of them yelled, “Bobo! She needs the bike!”
I’m thinking, ‘Bike? What bike?,’ certain that in my head he was somehow going to drive me into Paris on a pedicab. Bobo leads me outside…to a parked motorcycle. I laughed out loud, showing him my luggage and started to walk away and he says, “No no no! Look.” He proceeds to show me photos on his phone of how he straps the luggage onto the back and the locked storage space where he can put my carryons. Plus, he says, he can get me there in 30 minutes as opposed to an hour in traffic. I had a moment of, “should I really do this??” and honestly, standing there in the crisp fresh air was the clincher for me. I agreed and the adventure was on.
I had never been on a motorcycle before, so this was all new to me! He gave me a giant leather jacket, gloves, and a helmet while he proceeded to strap my massive suitcase to the back. I got on and he put a sort of leather blanket/cover thing up over my legs to my waist. I asked him what to hold on to and he said, “Nothing! Relaaaaaaaax. Enjoy yourself!!” Gulp.
To be fair, it felt like I was sitting in a La-Z-Boy in my living room…and every time my knees would involuntarily squeeze in out of reflex, I heard Bobo say, “Relaaaaaax!!” and I would unclench.
We took off! The weaving in and out between cars started right away. I felt abject terror mixed with the sweet relief of fresh air and the excitement of finally being in France! Let’s just say I didn’t need any coffee to wake me up that day! We sped on to the highway where it became really thrilling. When we went super fast, I was sure that my suitcase was going to fall off…and when we slowed down to weave in and out of traffic, I was sure that my knees would be scraped off by the cars and trucks that were mere inches away. i closed my eyes a lot.
And then came the tunnel. We headed down into a pitch black tunnel with dead stopped traffic in all five lanes. There were red brake lights as far as the eye could see—but not for us! We crept around all of them in our own lane between the lanes. This was probably the scariest part as we literally missed hitting peoples mirrors by, I swear, millimeters.
After we popped out of the tunnel, the buildings started to look more Parisian and my heart leapt! Here I was, flying through the streets of Paris on my first motorcycle ride. Out of my comfort zone? Check! When we were in the city, we slowed down enough for me to take a quick video of my perspective as I was sure no one would believe my story. We finally made it to the train station and I was freezing, shaking, vibrating, all of the things. I had Bobo take a few pictures of me and I was there—in only 30 minutes, just as he promised.
I went to meet up with a few of the other artists at restaurant across the street—my hair a windblown mess and my hands visibly shaking. One guy said he ‘got a contact high’ from me as I told my story, I was so wound up! We all continued on to the train platform after a glass of wine and boarded the train. About three hours and a handful of stops later, we arrived at the Chaumont train station.
Two big vans and drivers were waiting for us, they handed out luggage tags and we all piled in the vans for another 30 minute drive to the Chateau. At this point, it’s about 4pm. We drive by beautiful fields of yellow wildflowers with fluffy cows relaxing in the sun….through tiny little villages with ancient buildings and flowers everywhere.
And then…finally…we get to the gate of the Chateau. The gate opened and we drove up a packed dirt driveway past the Stables where my studio will be. I held back tears—it was just too beautiful for words. Soon the Chateau came into view and it was simply breathtaking! So much more grand than any picture I’ve seen. We all tumbled out of the van and Oohed and Aahed. A few tears were shed for sure.
The scope and scale of the grounds are simply hard to put into words! Imagine seeing a forest with every shade of green possible…as the church’s bells ring the hour while white cows stroll in a nearby meadow. Two perfect swans swim by in the pond just in front of us and the chateau cat, Dusty, runs up to greet us. The drivers tell us that our luggage will be moved to our rooms and that we should head inside for our wine and cheese welcome. A few of us go in and check things out…the main salon (or living room) is off to the left, and the Dining salon is to the right with the cheese and wine. After such a long travel day, this feels like absolute heaven!
We get to check out our rooms (more on that in the next blog) and then at 7pm, the dinner bell rings and we get to meet the glorious Chef Marie, who announces what we will be having each night with much fanfare and lots of laughter. After dinner some of us took a walk around the grounds and they do not disappoint! We were all buzzing with excitement, looking forward to the weeks ahead!
Stay tuned for Musings on France, Part 3—coming soon!
