Monday, September 7 - Route Complete - 0 miles, Day 53 - Versailles to CDG

If I had had to move two bikes to the airport today, it would have been nearly impossible.  Bulk, weight and crowded subways were all obstacles to success. I was thankful I did not have to move Sally's 50 pound ebike, along with my bike, 4 panniers and a pack.

We were up about 6:30 am this morning, our last day at our wonderful B&B in Versailles.  We breakfasted, packed and were out the door about 8:30 am.  My bike was in a bike box, its rear wheel was extending out the bottom of the box so I could wheel it to the train station, but nothing else was in the box yet.  When we got to the ground floor, we loaded up the box with as much gear as possible, 2 panniers, sleeping pads, etc., then began our walk to the train station.

The box with a single wheel required balancing.  This was more of a pain than I thought it would be.  Still, it was easier than outright carrying the whole load.  We had left the B&B a little earlier than we had planned.  We wanted to be sure we were after rush hour.  We stopped on the street across from the train station and hung out for 15 minutes.  During this time we noticed the foot traffic in and out of the train station was almost nonexistent, proof enough that it was a good time for us to board with the bike.

The ride to the Notre Dame station was uneventful. I had to pack the bike down a long escalator as we transferred from RER C to RER B.  As we exited the escalator, we were confronted by a crowd of people on the platform.  We found out the trains had not been running earlier in the morning.  The rush hour crowd we were hoping to avoid was now all standing on the platform, and a train pulled up.  I had decided we would let this train go, let the crowd move on, and catch the next train.  People loaded onto the train, and Sally and I walked up the platform to get in position for the next train. As we did, I noticed one of the open car doors showed enough room for the two of us and the bike box.  We stepped on, but my bulky pack (my back pack with 2 panniers dangling from it) blocked Sally from getting on board. She alerted me to her predicament, while standing just outside the train.  I shifted my position just a bit, and she squirted on, just as the doors closed, pinching her backpack in the door, preventing it from closing.  A little more wiggling, and she cleared the doors.

Our compartment was not packed tight like sardines, yet.  At the next stop, instead of some getting off, the platform was loaded with people trying to get on. They too, had been waiting for trains that did not show. Now, we started packing them in. Everyone exhaled to reduce their size, squeezed a little closer, and after a few attempts, the doors closed and off we went again.  

We had a long ride, with a lot of stops, but luckily, this train skipped most of those stops. I probably had more room than anyone else on the train, my bike box had effectively kept the masses at bay.

Our stop was the last of the line.  I was hoping most would get off before I did, thereby I would not have to extract the box from the packed sardines.  One stop before the airport, nearly the whole train emptied.  We were able to easily exit at our stop.  

We caught a bus to hour hotel, the silver line.  Our driver was about 25 years old, and thought he was piloting a Ferrari or a F16.  Those of us in the back held on tight as he did everything but slide the bus around corners.  Thankfully, the we were soon at our hotel.

We checked in, went to our room, repacked the the bike box for the airplane, went for a walk and had dinner.  We made plans to get on the 8:05 am bus for the airport in the morning.