Bon Voyage! Part 3

This has become a long story, and I have left out much more than I have told you. If you didn't notice from the title, this is part 3 of a series of blogs, you may want to read 1 and 2 before going any further with this blog post. Part 2 stopped just as Taylor and I were about to leave England and head back to France. We were supposed to catch a train (the Chunnel) back to Paris and then get onto the metro and go to a certain station. At which point we were to meet up with the rest of our team, who had been in Chalons en Champagne. It was to be pretty easy, we just had to make sure we didn't miss our connection or we would likely not make it to the station where we were meeting the rest of our team. My friend Jeff took us to the train station to make sure we got onto the proper train, we said our goodbye's and hopped on the train. All is well so far, the train took off and about 30 minutes later we were in the chunnel under the English Channel. It was at this time that things took a turn for the worst. When we were about halfway through the chunnel our train came to a stop. It sat in the chunnel for over 30 minutes before it started moving again. There was some kind of work going on in the Chunnel and no trains could go through while the work was being performed. Well this put us within minutes of making our connection, if everything went perfect with no hiccups we might just make it to the team. We got off of the train ran to our connection, it never came I quickly took out the map and found a second train that would get us there. Whichever came first was the one we would take, I then found out that the one we were supposed to take was down so we had to take the second choice. Luckily it came within a couple of minutes but we were so close we figured we wouldn't make it to the team. We got on the train and the doors closed but the train didn't move it just sat there. We were frantic at this point, the had train broke down, we had no idea what to do next. I couldn't find another train that would take us where we needed to go. No one around us spoke English and we didn't speak enough French to ask for help. I must have had a look of panic on my face because a very nice Frenchman was able to pick up enough of our conversation to see that we had no idea what to do. He pointed to the map of the trains and pointed to the stop we needed. I said yes and he waved his hand to follow him. He then proceeded to guide us through the Labyrinth of tunnels and took us to another train, he showed us where to get off and what train to get back on that would get us to our stop. We thanked him over and over and he just smiled and walked away. It was a wonderful experience and I thank God for putting this angel among us that day. If you haven't figured it by now we made it to the station, only to find the team long gone. Now I was very nervous, we had to get several hours across France by ourselves and we couldn't speak the language. We had very little money and our tickets were no good. We were able to trade them but the new tickets were more expensive and we also had to buy a bus ticket when we got to Grenoble. Not to mention we had already been traveling for 6 hours with no food. Well, long story short, we were supposed to arrive in Grenoble at around 2:00 in the afternoon we finally arrived at 9:00 p.m. I was able to purchase bus tickets for the last bus but they neglected to tell me it had already left. Luckily, they refunded my money and I was able to call the team and they sent a car into town to pick us up. Once again I could tell you way more than I have but it would just bore you, let me just say that it was only by the grace of God that we were able to get to Grenoble. Taylor and I could both tell you of many times that we thought it was over and we wouldn't be able to get there, but God never abandoned us and now that I look back on it I am glad that it happened. It caused me to rely on God and not myself. It was dark when we arrived and it was late so we ate and went to bed early. When I awoke the next morning, I went out of our building and looked up at the mountain. I was not impressed, I mean this was the Alps and I didn't see anything about the mountain worth writing about. I walked up toward the kitchen when I realized I had left my camera in the room, I decided to go back and get it before eating. When I turned around I was blown away, the view that I saw was magnificent. The picture above that you see is what I saw that morning for the first time, it was there the night before but in the dark you couldn't see it. Kind of like how God was with Taylor and I the whole time we were trying to get to Grenoble, but we couldn't see Him. I quickly ran and got my gear and started taking pictures, I had to see more of the mountains after that. I was fortunate to have this view as it turned out to be the best view of the mountains I was able to get. we went further into the mountains but we never were treated to a good view like we had from our dorm. We spent the rest of that day doing work around the camp.The next day we took a trip up into the mountains to a ski resort area. We didn't have the time or money to go skiing but we were able to go on a snowshoeing trip. Which I really enjoyed, as did most of the team. While we were in Grenoble I had an opportunity to drive a car, a few times. The first time, I went into town with the camp director to a garage to pick up a car that had been repaired, I was to follow the camp director back to the camp and drive one of the cars. Later the same day the camp director and I went to the local hardware store to pick up some hardware, I never drove but I got to see a bit more of the surrounding area. The next day however, some things were needed at the hardware store and the camp director told me to take the car and go. I was excited but at the same time very nervous, I couldn't read the road signs how was I supposed to know what they all meant? This didn't stop me from going though, in France, for those of you who don't already know this, there are not many stop signs. Most of the intersections are traffic circles. You don't stop and wait your turn to turn or cross the intersection, you just safely merge onto the traffic circle and keep going until you get to the street you want and you get off of the circle. It all sounds quite simple and in a small town it truly is quite simple. However some of the traffic circles are 3 and 4 lanes wide, once you get on the inside lane it can be difficult to get to the outside lane and get off of the circle. I never had to drive on one that big but I did have to drive on one that was 2 lanes wide and this was the hardest part of my French driving experience. One mistake and I would have been in trouble. I seem to thrive when I am under pressure and I drove just fine, I think I may have over rev'd the engine when first getting onto the big traffic circle but no one noticed but me. I must say that I truly enjoyed getting to drive in France, this had to be one of the top 5 highlights for me on this trip. To top it off I was also able to drive an English car with the steering wheel on the opposite side of the car. Like the US, in France they drive on the right side of the road and their cars are set up just like US cars with steering wheels on the left side. In England it's just the opposite, well it turns out that the camp had an old van from England and when the camp director showed it to me he asked if I would like to take it for a spin. You already know what I said, I couldn't wait so we took it out for a spin. It was quite different driving this thing up the mountain side. I was sitting on the right side and I could look out my window and see the edge of the mountain, it was quite alarming but very fun at the same time. When we went up the mountain to go to the ski resort I was asked to drive one of the vans, man was that fun. The roads were very narrow the vehicles very wide and the curves very sharp, not to mention the grade was very steep. All these things combined made for and interesting ride. Let me not forget that I was following another van whose driver was familiar with the roads and enjoyed driving fast. WOW, is all I can say, I am glad I had a van full of teenage girls who had a lot to talk about and didn't really pay attention to the ride. We were at the camp for about 4 days and then we headed to our last stop, Lyon. I think I am going to drag this blog out 1 more day and finish it up tomorrow, so you'll have to check back to find out why I titled this blog, "Bon Voyage".

Photoman