Into Port
During my big backpacking trip in 2012, I found myself in a variety of exciting positions, meeting a number of exciting new people, and discovering a number of exciting new places. Everything was wonderful and I truly enjoyed every day of it. Ups and downs included. Among the stories I have collected from this trip, I am going to share another one with you today. The lead in is simple. I flew into Dublin, Ireland and made my way to Rosslare Harbour where I hopped a ferry to Cherbourg, France. During the evening on the ferry, I spent time with a new friend, Christine. She was an exchange student studying in Ireland. Let’s go.
When we put into port, Christine and I decided to stick together. She told me that she had a hotel room lined up for the evening. She invited me to tag along to see if there was a room available. We got to the hotel and knocked on the door. Christine did not speak French and my French was terrible; but we learned that “wee-fee” means Wi-Fi and that despite language barriers, there is entertainment to be had in failed communications.
After a delightful interaction with a land lady, I helped Christine get her bags up to her room. She had a spare bed and was extremely kind. She invited me to stay with her at no charge. I reluctantly agreed. I felt equal parts like I was taking advantage and elated that I didn’t have to spend any money. The guilt outweighed the frugality and I told her I couldn’t do that. She insisted and the frugality part won out. We opted to spend the day together. We started by walking out and seeing where we could get lost in this delightful coastal town.
During a particular run down an old cobblestone street, surrounded by brick walls, Christine and I were all but flipping a coin to determine which direction to walk next. Each intersection we came up to led to another opportunity to allow the fates to decide where we would end up. At one such intersection, we decided to override the fates and determine our turn before we got to it. Just ahead of us, on the left was an offshoot of a street that Christine and I were definitely going to turn down. We kept walking until we got to the cross street. We turned left onto the road to discover a dead end. A few steps into the side street, we stopped ourselves because there was nowhere to go but a gate into a private parking area. We opted to go back to the main street and continue on when we heard it.
From behind the walls, we heard footsteps. They were pounding quickly and we knew someone was trying to get somewhere fast. We stopped and waited to see from where this mystery person would appear. She popped right out of the wall!
Like a cartoon, a young girl appeared to run through the wall and towards us. Christine and I looked at each other, astounded. Unspoken, we decided to walk into the alley to see where she came from and to our surprise beyond where we could see at first was a passageway, hidden in the bricks. We laughed out loud at our oversight and decided to walk down the alley to see where it led. This alley was eight foot high bricks on either side with trees peaking up over the tops of the bricks occasionally. Flowers, vines, plants, and trees covered the tops of the brick walls for hundreds of feet through the edges of people’s back yards in this gorgeous little village.
On our way back to the hotel room, we stopped at a grocery store to pick up some snacks for the evening. We bought fruit, cheese, wine, and bread to enjoy a hotel room picnic. Our room was westward facing and had a bistro table near one of the windows. It was here we set up our feast. We opened the window and huddled behind the ironwork to watch the sun set in the distance.
While this story is wandering, it matches the day. There were a handful of experiences that were worth everything, especially so early in this adventure. This particular experience set the tone for the entire trip. Remember to not shy away from single serving friends during your travels. You never know where the mystery will take you.
I hope you enjoyed this story. If you want to read more like this, check out the Storytime section of the blog. Until next time,
Thanks, y’all!
