The countryside from Paris to Nice is covered with fields of beautiful yellow flowers and dotted with farms and villages. 
There are little clusters of white cows and sheep grazing in pastures divided by hedgerows and fences and the occasional stone barn and house. As you go 
farther south, the terrain becomes more rolling hills and finally mountains as you hit the coast. It is also hard to get a photo that does it all justice out the window of a train moving 150kph (90ish in mph) that makes a better mirror than window. But it is 
picturesque and quaint.
The plane rides to Philly and Paris were uneventful. I lucked out on the overseas flight as I sat on the aisle of the middle four seats and the two inside seats were unoccupied, affording extra space and legroom. The guy sitting on the aisle on the opposite side was from Seattle and had flown in that morning. He was on his way to meet his brother, who married a French Canadian and lives in Montreal, for a few days together in Paris and then 10 more in Tunisia. He is Italian, a naturalized citizen and although his accent made him a little tough for me to understand at times, we had some pleasant conversation about this, that and the other thing.
Upon arriving at Paris-CDG, I went to the ATM to obtain coin of the realm. Insert card, select English, punch in PIN, select amount: YOUR BANK HAS REFUSED TO AUTHORIZE YOUR TRANSACTION. Uh oh, Houston, we have a problem. Maybe I just punched a wrong key. Insert cart, select English, punch in PIN, select amount: YOUR BANK HAS REFUSED TO AUTHORIZE YOUR TRANSACTION. Ah, probably just this machine. That theory was shot to hell two ATM’s later. Now I do have a problem as I don’t have a European cell phone and my only contact is email. Ok, first things first. I have $100us, so I will exchange $50 and at least have some local coin. $50us gets you 27.72€ (the xchg is .68, screw the fact that the Post Standard had it at .76 in Wednesday’s paper, and the fee is 6.98€. OUCH!! But I was in no position to argue). So my immediate need for local coin was solved.
I then spied a guy using his laptop. I took a seat nearby and booted up. Two unsecured networks available. Connect to the first: please type in your password. Go to the second, which was through the Sheraton Hotel, located just above the train station. Password also required. Ok, up to the hotel lobby and the reception desk attended by a lovely young woman. Bonjour, parley vous Englais? Yes. So I take off my hat to expose my white hair and recount my tale of woe, advising that the only contact I have is thru email and would it be possible to access their wi-fi and email my poor wife and get this problem solved? Certainly, you can buy a one day card for 15€. Thank you but I only have 27.72€ and I don’t know how long I have to make it last. I’ll have to figure something else out. Well, the white hair and the long face must have gotten to her because as I turned to walk away she says wait, walks over to another counter and hands me an access card. Merci beaucoup, Mademoiselle, merci beaucoup! You are a life saver.
So over to a chair in the lobby, fire up ole Betsy and send Lil an email that I’m stranded in Europe and can’t access the ATM…. sounds like an email scam. I know, I’ll toss in something cute that Nicholas used to say when he was small to prove it’s really me. So I tell here (the next several words have been censored for security purposes). There, that should do it. Now the only problem is that it is 4 a.m. in Syracuse, Lil won’t be up for another 2 ½ hours and the bank doesn’t open for another 4 ½ hours. No sweat, get a baguette sandwich, catch the train and all your cares will be gone by the time you arrive in Nice! Not quite. First thing I did in Nice was go to the ATM and it’s still a no go.
OK, get to the hotel and check email. Apparently, there has been so much card fraud in France that US banks will not authorize transactions unless you clear it first. I emailed back to Lil that I had just tried to get cash and was still shut out. She called the bank again and they had authorized her card not mine. The Chileans have an expression for this it’s (censored). The bank advised that they would correct this immediately. I should now be good to go. Stay tuned.
BTW, Nice is nice.
There are little clusters of white cows and sheep grazing in pastures divided by hedgerows and fences and the occasional stone barn and house. As you go 
farther south, the terrain becomes more rolling hills and finally mountains as you hit the coast. It is also hard to get a photo that does it all justice out the window of a train moving 150kph (90ish in mph) that makes a better mirror than window. But it is 
picturesque and quaint.The plane rides to Philly and Paris were uneventful. I lucked out on the overseas flight as I sat on the aisle of the middle four seats and the two inside seats were unoccupied, affording extra space and legroom. The guy sitting on the aisle on the opposite side was from Seattle and had flown in that morning. He was on his way to meet his brother, who married a French Canadian and lives in Montreal, for a few days together in Paris and then 10 more in Tunisia. He is Italian, a naturalized citizen and although his accent made him a little tough for me to understand at times, we had some pleasant conversation about this, that and the other thing.
Upon arriving at Paris-CDG, I went to the ATM to obtain coin of the realm. Insert card, select English, punch in PIN, select amount: YOUR BANK HAS REFUSED TO AUTHORIZE YOUR TRANSACTION. Uh oh, Houston, we have a problem. Maybe I just punched a wrong key. Insert cart, select English, punch in PIN, select amount: YOUR BANK HAS REFUSED TO AUTHORIZE YOUR TRANSACTION. Ah, probably just this machine. That theory was shot to hell two ATM’s later. Now I do have a problem as I don’t have a European cell phone and my only contact is email. Ok, first things first. I have $100us, so I will exchange $50 and at least have some local coin. $50us gets you 27.72€ (the xchg is .68, screw the fact that the Post Standard had it at .76 in Wednesday’s paper, and the fee is 6.98€. OUCH!! But I was in no position to argue). So my immediate need for local coin was solved.
I then spied a guy using his laptop. I took a seat nearby and booted up. Two unsecured networks available. Connect to the first: please type in your password. Go to the second, which was through the Sheraton Hotel, located just above the train station. Password also required. Ok, up to the hotel lobby and the reception desk attended by a lovely young woman. Bonjour, parley vous Englais? Yes. So I take off my hat to expose my white hair and recount my tale of woe, advising that the only contact I have is thru email and would it be possible to access their wi-fi and email my poor wife and get this problem solved? Certainly, you can buy a one day card for 15€. Thank you but I only have 27.72€ and I don’t know how long I have to make it last. I’ll have to figure something else out. Well, the white hair and the long face must have gotten to her because as I turned to walk away she says wait, walks over to another counter and hands me an access card. Merci beaucoup, Mademoiselle, merci beaucoup! You are a life saver.
So over to a chair in the lobby, fire up ole Betsy and send Lil an email that I’m stranded in Europe and can’t access the ATM…. sounds like an email scam. I know, I’ll toss in something cute that Nicholas used to say when he was small to prove it’s really me. So I tell here (the next several words have been censored for security purposes). There, that should do it. Now the only problem is that it is 4 a.m. in Syracuse, Lil won’t be up for another 2 ½ hours and the bank doesn’t open for another 4 ½ hours. No sweat, get a baguette sandwich, catch the train and all your cares will be gone by the time you arrive in Nice! Not quite. First thing I did in Nice was go to the ATM and it’s still a no go.
OK, get to the hotel and check email. Apparently, there has been so much card fraud in France that US banks will not authorize transactions unless you clear it first. I emailed back to Lil that I had just tried to get cash and was still shut out. She called the bank again and they had authorized her card not mine. The Chileans have an expression for this it’s (censored). The bank advised that they would correct this immediately. I should now be good to go. Stay tuned.
BTW, Nice is nice.
3 comments:
Perhaps the ATMs are conspiring to keep you from Mt Rushmore!
That's what happens when you go to France without your wingman
Damn it Grady, this is the President.
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