Deja Vu all over again...

Dear friends, perhaps you remember the adventures of Mary and Laura when we were in England.  There was one particular adventure involving a town called Leamington Spa and the English train system, which we vowed would never happen again.

Well, on Friday, it happened.  I was on my way to visit Laura and I wasn't exactly sure how the trains worked and everything.  I got on the correct train in Verdun (I didn't have much of a choice), but then, noting that my train was headed towards Nancy via Conflans Jarny, made the executive decision to get off in Conflans Jarny because it looked like a place where connections could be made.

Ok. I don't know where I went wrong.  I DID ask the man at the ticket booth for a ticket from Verdun to Nancy by way of Metz (and he asked me again later for triple confirmation). So while my ticket said "via Conflans" what it actually meant was "you are going to see the little station of Conflans flying past your window on your way to Metz (there are, by the way, no direct trains to Nancy)."

Going back to the Leamington Spa episode.  AT LEAST THERE WE COULD CATCH A TRAIN EVERY FIVE MINUTES.  Alas, Jarny is one of those places which trains avoid.  Realizing my mistake, I went to the ticket window (after watching my train pull away) and asked the man when the next train to Nancy was. I was told I had to wait about 1-2 hours to catch a bus that was going there.  Great. I must have looked very disappointed, because he asked me if there was something else I wanted.  He realized that I was an American and asked if there was anything else I wanted.  I just asked him to repeat the time (so great was my shock!).  What I really wanted to ask was "can I cry on your shoulder right now?"

So, I explored Jarny.  For you folks out there planning your European vacations, you can definitely skip Jarny.  It is a very typical, quiet place.  Perhaps there is more to it than I saw, but it is still not very interesting.

When I was walking back to the bus station early, I saw a bus parked outside.  I went up to it and found out that it was headed for Metz.  I hopped aboard (forget a direct anything to Nancy!) and then found myself deposited at the train station in Metz, where I took a train to Nancy after a half hour or so.

On the way home, I made sure that I didn't get off in Conflans Jarny.  Sure, I can laugh about it now, but it certainly wasn't funny at the time.

Now I have many things to do,
-Mary