Summer in Hannover – III: Lovely German Girl

Click here for Summer in Hannover – II: Order of the Phoenix

From Gare-Montparnasse we went back to India house to take my bag and rushed to Gallieni, the International Bus Terminus of Paris. Gallieni is not so far from Cité Universitaire. However we have to change three metros (RER-B, M11 and M3) to reach Gallieni, that consumes much of the time.

While booking the bus ticket to Hannover through eurolines website, I have been told to collect the paper ticket at Gallieni one hour before the departure time. Even though myself and Raghavan are new to Gallieni, we could reach the bus terminus very easily as the subway is ending exactly at the bus terminus.

Many counters are there for baggage check-in, ticket booking, etc. We stand in a queue for a counter specially for english speaking people. Got the ticket issued by presenting my ID and the reservation number. We sit there looking in the screen to display the check-in time for the passengers to Hannover. The information display looks like that of an International airport. You can see the timing of Bus to almost all major European destinations. For example London, Rome, Frankfurt, Zurich, Amsterdam, Copenhagen (Denmark), Warsaw (Poland), etc.

It appeared on the display: Counter ‘G’ for the passengers to Brussels (Belgium) – Hannover – Berlin. I queued for my turn and then requested for a window seat so that I can see the places during the journey. But I found there is no seat number in euroline buses. You will provide only a card with the coach number. It is just the platform number where the bus to our destination stops. You can select the seat according to your choice subject to the availability of seats as in our ordinary bus. Once you occupy a seat, that will be yours throughout the journey.

Raghavan has an appointment with a friend of Advocate Cheriya Raman Nair at Cité Universitaire. So he left wishing me “Bonne Voyage”. I had a sandwitch from a patisserie at the bus station and wait for my bus. The bus hasn’t come at right time. I think this euroline has some connection with Indian Railway because each bus is at least 15 minutes late.

Finally our bus came after 25 minutes of the actual departure time. It is operated by Berlin Linien Bus, seeing the bus I realized I have been fooled by eurolines because while booking I saw Berlin Linien for 25 Euro less than the fare of eurolines. But I preferred eurolines hopping it will be better than Berlin Linien.

The crew (I dont know what should I call him) collected and placed the baggages of the passengers in the baggage cabin, then he allowed the passengers to enter the bus one by one after collecting the boarding card. I preferred the top level to the first with hope that I can see place better.

I realized that searching for window seat to enjoy the beauty of nature on the way is stupidity because the real natural beauty is not outside but inside the bus. Unfortunately almost all beauties are accompanied by their boyfriends.

I found a girl in a window seat and her bag in the aisle seat. When I look at her face, with a smile she took that bag and kept under her seat. I decided to give a company to that poor gal [1].

Tiger greet her a ’salut’ [2], She wished back the same and said something in French. I responded with a word that I used most often during my stay in France: “Désolé, je ne parle pas français[3]“. She tried to say something in German (?) but I speak only English. As of every Europeans other than English people, she said `aha, I too speak English but not so well’. I was so happy as I got a neighbor who knows the language I know, and above all she is very cute and friendly.

You’ll read more about this lovely girl and the rest of the journey in coming Samachars. If you miss next issues of tigersamachar you will be loosing the chance to read the centerpiece of the Summer in Hannover.

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Notes:

[1]- I sit there because all other seats are occupied. Please don’t misunderstand me.
[2]- Salut (FR) = Hello (EN)
[3]- Désolé, je ne parle pas français (FR) = Sorry, I don’t speak french (EN)