It was really a very exhausting trip from Alexandria or "Alex" as we call it to Marseille or "Mars" as the French call it. My flight from Cairo Airport was at 9.30 a.m while the last bus that goes to Cairo from Alexandria is at 1 a.m which means I had to arrive at the airport at around 4 a.m and just keep waiting for 6 hours for the airplane to take off ! It's my first time to fly on my own so I was a bit nervous and I was afraid to fall asleep and then miss the flight so I had to force myself to stay awake till I get into the airplane.
Cairo Airport Image from the Wikicommons
In the airplane everybody was speaking French. I understand some French but my problem is in speaking it. It's a very beautiful language and I find myself just ruining it by pronouncing the words wrongly :) The man next in the plane was really nice. At the beginning I thought he was Egyptian and since he talks in a very low voice I was answering him in Arabic. Even the flight attended thought he was Egyptian too as she used to ask him about food and drinks in Arabic. Anyway we found a way to communicate in English and I slept almost the entire flight. I was planning on taking some photos and shooting some videos from my window in the airplane but I was too tired to do so.
After 4 hours and a half I arrived in Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris at around 2.30 p.m but since there is an hour difference between Egypt and France it was still 1.30 p.m. The Charles De Gaulle Airport is like a city itself. I had to take the subway shuttle to reach the train station where I was supposed to have the 5 p.m train to Marseille. Since everything was in French I got lost many times but thank God I've already printed a map for the airport :)
I got my bags faster than I had expected which was not a good thing because this means I had to wait doing nothing for a longer period of time. I had this huge bag that was not so easy to carry around. I didn't know how the weather would be here in Marseille so I almost got everything in my closet :/ After checking and asking some people I finally arrived in the train station. I had to wait for more 2 hours for the train.
The moment I arrived to the station I found the policemen asking people to evacuate the building. Of course it took me some time to understand what was going on since it was all in French. After 15 minutes everybody was inside again. I couldn't see the platform for the train so i decided to ask the information desk. The lady there was speaking English.. thank God :) She told me to take the elevator to down there just 20 minutes before the train arrives. I did what she said but then I found myself in front of 5 different platforms !! I didn't want to wait till the train arrives and then be sure of the right platform so I went back to the information desk to ask about the right platform but i was told that I could find all the information needed up above in the board. I was really disappointed and I chose randomly any platform to go to but thank God it was the right one :)
Finally the train the train arrived to Marseille at 9.30 p.m. I found Renaud, Jean-Leurent and Mohamed Youssef waiting for me. They were planning to take me for dinner but I was too tired to eat in fact. Renaud just drove around instead to show me some of the city. At the end I made it to the villa in la friche which is a very nice place.
After 4 hours and a half I arrived in Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris at around 2.30 p.m but since there is an hour difference between Egypt and France it was still 1.30 p.m. The Charles De Gaulle Airport is like a city itself. I had to take the subway shuttle to reach the train station where I was supposed to have the 5 p.m train to Marseille. Since everything was in French I got lost many times but thank God I've already printed a map for the airport :)
The Map of Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris
I got my bags faster than I had expected which was not a good thing because this means I had to wait doing nothing for a longer period of time. I had this huge bag that was not so easy to carry around. I didn't know how the weather would be here in Marseille so I almost got everything in my closet :/ After checking and asking some people I finally arrived in the train station. I had to wait for more 2 hours for the train.
The moment I arrived to the station I found the policemen asking people to evacuate the building. Of course it took me some time to understand what was going on since it was all in French. After 15 minutes everybody was inside again. I couldn't see the platform for the train so i decided to ask the information desk. The lady there was speaking English.. thank God :) She told me to take the elevator to down there just 20 minutes before the train arrives. I did what she said but then I found myself in front of 5 different platforms !! I didn't want to wait till the train arrives and then be sure of the right platform so I went back to the information desk to ask about the right platform but i was told that I could find all the information needed up above in the board. I was really disappointed and I chose randomly any platform to go to but thank God it was the right one :)
The train platforms in Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris
When the train arrived everybody got in and I had to check my ticket to see my seat number but I was really surprised not to find any. I was so afraid that there was something wrong with the ticket because in Egypt we don't have such type of electronic tickets with no seat number. I tried to ask many people about the seat number issue but they were not that friendly. The train moved like only after 5 minutes of its arrival to the station. My bag was so big to pass through the door of the train cart so I had to leave it outside and I went to find any available seat to sit on. The train stopped about 5 times and each time I discover I was sitting on someone's seat so i had to change it 5 times as well. Finally the train the train arrived to Marseille at 9.30 p.m. I found Renaud, Jean-Leurent and Mohamed Youssef waiting for me. They were planning to take me for dinner but I was too tired to eat in fact. Renaud just drove around instead to show me some of the city. At the end I made it to the villa in la friche which is a very nice place.
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