Marseille -> Nice, Train

God how I hate the French right now. Or service sector employees - I'm not really sure which.

Information Booth A. At information Boot A, I speak with a lady who clearly does not sympathize and says basically, yeah, you're going ot miss your night train, and if you don't cancel it now, you've lost your reservation fee (25€). And of course, I have to stand in the tickets line to do this. I run off to call my Mom as my friends stand in line (Thanks Anna and Kristina!). When I get back, theyre already in the front so off I go to a desk. Unfortunately, this desk doesnt have a little English flag to indicate the agent speaks English, so I have to continue on in French. The agent says that he cant do it so I should go to this other information booth. Not A, but another one. So off I go, wait in line again, and guess what? I'm directed back to information booth A. I say that I've just been there, but she says she cant do anything because my train is international. So off I go, back to info booth A, where I'm greeted with an exasperated oh-it's-you-again sigh. I explain what happened and why I'm back here, to which she replies Pourquoi faire? Which means basically, why are you here. She says she cant do anything, so I ask, who CAN do something? Eventually she leads me back to the same agent who again insists he can't do anything so she brings me to a new agent. He says there's no way I can make my connecting train, so I should rebook. He says it's just one daily, but I ask him to look for more. He finds one in the morning that leaves Nice and gets into venice in the afternoon. Sucks because I lose a day of Venice, but it could be worse. I tell him to go ahead and make the changes and now I sit on a train to Nice. IfSo today I left with Anna and Kristina, two Swiss German girls from ILA. The plan was that after a day trip to Marseille, the two would return to Montpellier on a train, and I would take one bound for Nice which would give me enough time to catch a night train to Venice. As you can guess, that didnt work out. The Marseille-Nice train was announced as being 30 minutes late, and seeing as I have but 20 minutes to catch the next train, that plan goes to the crapper. So, seeing the notice of the impending lateness (and, of course, the only other trains bound for Nice left at about the same time I got into the station); I run to an information booth (we'll call it Information Booth A) to see what I can do. Actually, first I ran to the front of the ticketing line to see if I can still catch one of those earlier trains, where the security agent directs me to the train to VEnice is still there, then I'm going to try to get my ass on it. If not, I have to call hole to find out my hostel options in Nice.


Kristina and Anna in Marseille.














So, the train. I'm trying to find a seat and start walking through these compartments and lo and behold, there's a dog just up and lying down in the hallway. The dog has no intention of moving, so I have the step over it. Shortly after I pass, this homeless/hippie/transient girl jumps out of the compartment in front of which the dog is lying. She aksks me if she can have my sandwitch which I had bought for dinner. What is with the French people and mooching (taper, in French)? In Paris, I get my water bottle taken, and now someone wants my dinner. I decline and move on. She says something about, I think, my girlfriend, which just confuses me, so I just continue on without saying anything. Anyd, now, it smells like funk in here. Not sure if it's the transient filled compartment, the nasty dog, the baby leopard the guy in my compartment has, or just the usual French funk, but there's something there for sure. And as I sit here, with the windows open on both sides I'm reminded why I don't open windos in cars. The noise bothers me.
I sit here hoping the Venic e bound train is also late, but as the last ticket agent explained, it's the French system that has problems and not the Italian one. Alors, I'm hoping French rules apply for this train. Otherwise, I'm resigned to stay in Nice for the night. Exciting trip so far...