paris revisited – day 5 (19 dec)

day of departure. i was a eurostar virgin when i came and now leaving paris, i was well prepared for the return journey. bought a sandwich at some bakery. same like subway, you choose the bread then the toppings. i got the french pronunciation for baguette, chicken and mayo right. but that one word had me suffer a major embarrassment. (and wishing to dig a hole and bury myself). the word: crudités. thats french for vegetables. i pronounced it similarto “crudies”. immediately, monsieur francaisbehind me corrected me by saying similar to “crudits”. i turned around, apologised and explained i was practising my kindergarten french to whcih he looked nonplussed and accepted my explanation. i grabbed my baguette and coke and rushed back to my hotel, red-faced with embarrassment.

checking out, i decided to walk the 10 minutes or so to gare du nord for the eurostar. the rest of the way was travelling all to my ultimate destination: my room in reading, uk. eurostar, london underground, national rail, bus. i arrived in reading in the evening with some unfinished business in paris.