Adventures on Night Train to Paris
After laboriously carrying two monster size suitcases onto the match-box-like train compartment, I naively marveled at the good fortune of having the entire compartment all by myself. At around 10 an Italian family of 8 came to my compartment. Confused, (how can we all fit on 2 bunk beds?), the two Italian women and I played charades for a good part of the night until I found out that the back of our seats actually folds up to form another "bed". So there were actually 6 "beds" in the tiny compartment, 3 stacked on each side. At four in the morning I got woken up by the thunderous snoring emitting by the woman sleeping a foot away from me, and at 7 the train attendant returned my ticket back to me but lost my passport. I chased the little mousy man down informing him of the situation, by which he indignantly replied by saying that it must be in my purse. He then proceeded to walk up and down the aisle looking for my passport, passing by me 5 times, each time asking me if the documents are in my purse (no dimwit, unless you placed it there while I was asleep, I think I'm still a few years away from dementia). A Japanese woman eventually returned my passport, they had given mine to her (because all us Asians look alike, despite the fact that she's an Italian citizen). The attendant then came to me again, in which I told him that my passport has been found. He (knowing little English) got very upset and thought that I had it in my purse all along. Another charade ensued for me to inform him of his incompetence. The precision of Italian train administration stuns me. All in all though, the two Italian ladies that stayed with me were the nicest people. In the morning we busted out the dictionary and had an interesting conversation, (very interesting considering that I know no Italian and they knew no English) by which they told me that I was pretty, and that I was the tallest Asian girl they've seen. They were patient and lovely. I hope to run into them in Paris sometime...