After four months of training, the day of departure finally arrived. Suzie comes to take me to the airport three hours before my departure. We spend hours together in recent in what has become the ghost town of Mirabel airport. We play to have their picture taken by a distributor and we'll supper in the cafeteria.
It's time for boarding. She accompanies me to the baggage check. I feel a little nervous, I know I'm leaving for six weeks and it will not always be easy. Suzie always equal to itself, is calm and good humor. There will be no hard goodbye, just a kiss and a hug. See you later, I'll write you to say. I watch her move toward the exit. I tell myself that I really had a chance to meet this woman in my life.
The plane landed in Paris at the time and that's good, because I have to take the train to Bayonne. To buy a train ticket, I go to the train station which is attached to the airport. I learn that there is no departure for Bordeaux today. Therefore I go to the Montparnasse train station located in Paris. It's 11:10 ET the train leaves at 24:15 precisely.
Eric panic, I run like crazy: I take the subway, I'm a transfer, I lose myself and I reach the Montparnasse train station at noon, a good twenty minutes in advance.
It is 18 o'clock when I arrived at the station in Bayonne. This time I take a small train of one car which I am the only passenger. I am very tired, I have not slept for more than 24 hours, but the drastic change of culture put me on "HI".
I see the white peaks of the Pyrenees. This is not a good omen, the last year, there are two pilgrims died of cold in the mountains. They walked for a major snowfall. They got lost and froze to death. It may be necessary that I pass by the road.
The locomotive arrived at St. Jean Pied de Port, a pretty woman is there to greet me:
-Good evening!
She has a funny accent, I guess it comes from Australia. She looks around as if seeking someone.
- Are You Alone?
- Yes, oh yes ....
It takes a sad. I think it's a funny way to welcome people! But I did not get to see anyone. So I'm glad to have a guide. On the road from the inn, she explains that she is expecting her boyfriend for two days He was to arrive in Australia yesterday. She provides information on the trail, weather, restaurants. I told him I am honored to have him as guide and she did a great job.
Who would have guessed that I am greeted by an Australian in St Jean Pied de Port?
I enter the inn is an old stone house several hundred years. The innkeeper, a man in his fifties, is very friendly with me. I give my credential. He notices that I'm Canadian:
- Is it true he did -50 ° C in Montreal this winter?
- Yes! this has lasted a week, it's been terrible, the cars will not start.
I know I'm exaggerating, but it's stronger than me! I find that Quebeckers have always tended to exaggerate the severity of Canadian winters. May - be that we want to express our frustration at the place of our ancestors. Allegedly told the settlers to their family, if they could call them? Probably something like: ¨ he criss cargo, but we are courageous, we will get ¨. They have suffered so much from the cold. It thanks to them we can live in Quebec now. Therefore, I will certainly never an opportunity to exaggerate the temperature, so that the French know it comes from a tough band ¨ ¨
When I enter the room of the house, there are people from France, Germany, Australia they are between 16 and 65. We all have light in their eyes.
