A Reunion With The Conductor

---

Geo: 48.8566, 2.35097

Another lazy day in the neighborhood. We were going to be meeting Vincent in the afternoon and so we just lazed around in the morning doing some of the stories from our earlier parts of the trip. Also went to the grocery store and got some things for meals on our homeward journey.

Got cleaned up and went down to the metro and caught the metro to the Gare de Est station. As usual European train stations are so interesting as they are bustling with people, trains pulling and pulling out and lots to see.

Vincent had said we would meet in the front of the station and so we went outside to wait for him and watched the hustlers in action. There were quite a few police/military types walking around but there did not seem to be a problem just a presence.

Vincent arrived and we set off out the back of the Gare de Est into a different world. We were in the part of Paris that has a large southern Asia population. Most of the shops and restaurants were Indian, Sri Lankan and possibly a combination of both or others.

The place we went to was a Sri Lankan restaurant that Vincent visits regularly and was quite delicious and very cheap compared to most of the other places we had been. Vincent said this place fills up quite rapidly around meal time and sure enough people kept coming in to eat.

We caught up on what each other had been doing and what our future plans were. We had met Vincent in Panama and have stayed in touch since then mainly through travel stories and Facebook. He was getting ready to take off traveling again to Thailand this time.

As we walked back marveled at all fruits and vegetables that were being sold along the way. There were many that I could not recognize. It was a wonderful walk through all the sights and smells and amazing think we were still in Paris until we rounded the corner and we back at the Gare de Est.

Vincent had told us some of the things he gets to deal with as the head conductor on the train back and forth to Amsterdam and on to Rotterdam. Evidently people tell the most amazing stories, or try to pull some real scams but he does seem to be wise to them!

Walked to his car and watched him check people in, listen to their stories and explain why that would not work. Very interesting. Finally he was walking car to car shutting the doors for the ride back to Amsterdam. Said our goodbyes until the next time we get together and made our way back to our room.

---