I was on top of the world that night because of the atmosphere.
The fantastic atmosphere of a summer night in Paris can easily drive a young man from Japan, who is not yet accustomed to traveling, crazy.
That day, I walked around the city during the day, returned to my dormitory, and went back to the center of Paris at night to climb The Eiffel Tower, one of Paris’ most iconic architectural landmarks and enjoy the night view.
The night view from the Empire State Building, which I had visited on my previous trip, was wonderful, but the night view from the top of the Eiffel Tower is truly magnificent.
From the third observation deck, located 276 meters above sea level, we could see the Trocadéro Gardens and the Palais de Chaillot, which made us feel strongly that we were in Paris.
As I gazed out in the lukewarm but cool summer air of Paris, the many light bulbs on the tower suddenly began to flicker and flash.
It was the “Champagne flash”, which is performed every hour after sunset.
The light that adds the essence of enchantment to the magical night makes it an unforgettable moment for the couples in the area.
(For me, watching it alone, it suddenly brought up feelings of loneliness from the bottom of my heart, which I had not felt at all before.)
Fantastic Parisian Nights
“I’d like to celebrate my daily life like they do..”
After enjoying such a special moment, I took the elevator down to the second observation deck and began to descend slowly down the stairs to the ground level, enjoying the night view.
As I descended the graffiti-covered stairs, I gazed enviously at the many Doodle with couple’s names surrounded by heart marks, imagining that the couples descending here would probably start kissing the moment they lost their popularity. I returned to the ground after enjoying the wonderful atmosphere.
Then, in front of me, the Champ de Mars park was full of people enjoying a summer evening in Paris!
Everyone was spread out on sheets, eating and drinking wine. Some were playing ball, others were chatting and laughing. Everyone seemed to be having a great time, and I could feel their enthusiasm for the summer nights and life in Paris, which made me even more excited.
I took the metro from the École Militaire station back to the Mairie de Saint-Ouen station.
I had intended to do that, But I really messed up!
One of the reasons may be that I had traveled to New York just before.
The subway system there operates 24 hours a day!!!
When I got down to the platform, the train was just about to disappear into the ground. At this time of the day, I would have to wait for the next one… Too bad.
I tried to find a bench, but something was wrong with the atmosphere.
The people who couldn’t get on the train looked very disappointed and walked out of the platform, while the people who came to the platform later were talking happily and walked out of the platform.
Then I realized what was happening. The last train had gone!!!!
I had been so excited, but all at once I was jolted back to reality and my mind went blank.
And I ran to the ground for no reason.
"OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG"
How was I going to get home after missing the last train in a foreign country where I didn't know the way?
I didn’t have an iPhone or iPad at the time, so I had no way to rely on Google.
All I had was a copy of Chikyu-no Arukikata(It’s kinda Japanese version lonely planet).
I took a deep breath and looked around and saw some late-night buses running.
Late-night buses. Even though I live in Japan, I rarely take buses, and I have no idea how the bus routes in Paris are organized.
Even if I went to a bus stop and looked at a route map, I could not understand it at all.
I don’t want to take a cab because I thought it would be too expensive to try to get a cab back to the dormitory….
As I looked at the road, I spotted a bus bound for Mairie de 18e, a name similar to my destination, Mairie de Saint-Ouen.
If the name is similar, it usually goes in that direction, so I can reduce the walking distance as much as possible.
I could ask someone after getting on it and somehow get there.
I’m panicking right now.
Looking back on it now, it was a very dangerous decision.
For example, if the two stations were similar, say Shinjuku Station and Shinjuku 3-chome Station, it would have been a very good decision, because they are almost the same place.
Roppongi Station and Roppongi 1-chome Station are surprisingly far apart, but still within walking distance.
However, in the worst case scenario, if the distance between Roppongi and Roppongi 1-chome is as far as Hamamatsucho and Hamamatsu, there is no way to recover.
I jumped on the bus without thinking about such a risk.
Back to the story a bit.
The man was exhausted.
He had finished his work at the restaurant and was thinking about what to do tomorrow, his day off, when he boarded the late-night bus.
He could go to his usual café and relax, or he could watch a movie once in a while.
There was nothing much to do on his day off anyway.
“I might as well sleep until late afternoon to rest my tired body“
While I was sitting in my chair thinking in a daze, a man with a frightened look on his face got on the bus. He looked young, either Korean or Japanese.
I did not usually see such a young man on the bus at this time of the day. Was he a tourist?
“Well, it was none of my business. What should I do tomorrow?”
As I was thinking, the man suddenly started talking to me.
Yes, I got on the bus and tried to ask someone for help.
The driver has an aura of being difficult to talk to.
There were women touching their cell phones, men reading magazines,
couples looking at each other and enjoying their time together, and men chatting and laughing.
Unlike most buses in Japan, which have seats facing the direction of travel,
the bus I boarded was dotted with seats facing each other.
My eyes fell on a man sitting about 3 meters away from me.
He was not touching his cell phone or reading a newspaper, but was a man in his sixties by the looks of it,
looking alone at the front.
He might be able to help me.
I got up from my seat and walked toward him, trying to figure out how to talk to him in the short time I had to walk.
Then I remembered the day after I arrived in Paris, when I was looking for a supermarket near where I was staying before I started exploring the city.
As I was walking down the street, I saw an old man looking out the upstairs window of his house at the street.
“Hey Excuse me, I’m looking for some supermarket nearby, so do you know some good ones?”
The man did not answer anything. This is what I’ve heard about French people who don’t want to speak English…
Then I asked him in French.
“Excusez-moi Monsieur, je cherche un supermarché, y en a-t-il un près d’ici ?”
(Excuse me sir, I’m looking for a supermarket, is there someone near here ?)
“tout droit et tournez à droite”
(Go straight and turn right.)
He said this while indicating the direction with his hand and looked at the street again.
He answered! This is the moment I was truly glad that I had studied French for only one year about two years before this trip to Paris.
After a few days of sightseeing in various places, I was relieved to learn that it was only the older people in particular who had to speak French,
I remembered that moment and with a puzzled look on my face, I pointed to the map in the ”Chikyu-no Arukikata” and spoke to him.
“Excusez-moi Monsieur, Je voudrais aller ici.”
(Excuse me. I’d like to go here…)
I wanted to tell him why I was in this situation and if this bus was really going in that direction, but my French was not up to the task.
But he was able to see the situation this Asian was in.
The only thing I could make out was “D’accord”,
but I think he was saying something along the lines of “Don’t worry, I’ll tell you what to do.”
He smiled for a moment, then closed his mouth again and started thinking in a daze.
I regained my composure and waited for the time to come, optimistically thinking that since he had said D’accord for now, he would probably tell me where to get off and so on.
After a while, he suddenly spoke something to me and beckoned me to get off the bus.
Is this his destination? Or was he changing buses here? Unsure, I followed him off the bus and he went to the bus stop across the street.
As we waited at the new bus stop, I looked at him anxiously, wondering if he was okay, and he said, “This is my destination. But don’t worry, I’ll take you there,” I think he would have said something like that in terms of his body language and words I could understand in places.
He smiled and said something to himself. But I was itching to understand what he was saying. More than anything, I felt bad that he was willing to drive me past my destination to meet a Japanese stranger, even though he was probably tired at this hour.
On the N01 bus, a fight broke out between two men standing on the bus, and as I nervously watched, thinking that everyone must be tired and irritated at this hour.
And we transferred to the N14 bus.
After a little while, he said something to me like, “We’ll get off here,” and as he was getting off the bus, I got off the bus as well.
To my surprise, it was the square in front of the city hall of Mairie de Saint-Ouen where I always see.
After all, he had taken me to my destination!!!
He was probably tired after work, and it was almost three in the morning. I was surprised that he could be so kind to an Asian tourist whom I suddenly met for the first time until that hour.
“Merci beaucoup.” With my French language skills at the level of a 4th grade French proficiency test (and even if I didn’t understand a word in a question, I could pass the test by judging it grammatically), it was all I could do to call out the words.
He extended his hand and tried to hug me, and I instantly knew it was la bise (cheek-to-cheek greeting), and I experienced my first bise in my life. His short beard pricked my skin.
“Je m’appelle Kazuki, et toi?”
(My name is Kazuki, and yours?)
“Je m’appelle Jack.”
He laughs and says so.
I never expected to be treated so kindly in a foreign land.
I take out my palm-sized French dictionary that I always used to study (Unlike today, I didn’t have smartphones, so I couldn’t do search quick) and say,
“Merci beaucoup. Je veux vous remercier et je veux aller avec vous au café. Voulez-vous me rencontrer ici à huit heures ce soir ?”
(Thank you so much. I would like to thank you and would like to go with you to the café, so why don’t we meet up here at 8pm this evening?)
And He said, “D’accord……… à huit heures……”
“I’ll meet you here at 8:00, okay(He said like that in French),” he replied, as if he must have understood.
“Veuillez me donner votre numéro de téléphone ou votre adresse électronique?”
(Could you give me your phone number or email address?)
I asked that to meet him, but he said he had neither a cell phone nor an email address. But “I’ll be here at 8:00 at night for sure,” He told to me, and waved him away.
After sightseeing during the day and returning to the dormitory, I declined the dinner invitation of my friends I met at the dormitory and headed for the train station, half-convinced that Jack would actually come.
To my surprise, he was already waiting for me when I arrived at the station square.
We shook hands and went to a nearby café.
It was My first experience in a Parisian café. And at eight o’clock in the summer in Paris, the western sun is still very bright, so it is not at all strange to say that it is four o’clock in the afternoon.
I ordered coffee from Garçon and started talking to him, but my French conversation level was almost Daphnia, and I had to look up very simple questions with my pocket dictionary.
In the end, I found out that he works in a restaurant, that he came home from work last night, that he has no way to contact me because he does not have a computer at home, that many French people do not like to speak English, but in Jack’s case, he does not speak English.
That’s about it.
I would never have done such a thing if I were the person I am now, but at that time, I had put up a wall due to the language barrier, and I left him after an hour or so, even though I had met him.
This is the end of my story with him.
I wonder how he is doing now.
“Are you still working at the restaurant?
I’m really sorry about that time.
If I could see you again now, I would like to have dinner with you and talk with you slowly”
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