A day in Paris that will not be easily forgotten, journeys from the morning until almost dusk… /From a MONDA reporter from Roland Garros/
Paris is the city of light, love, known for many sights, but also for other things. I had the opportunity to see it for myself on the first day in the capital of France, even when my friend Marfi and his law came forward, and then it all turned into a day to remember, and that in a city where no one either wants or knows to speak English. And in the middle of Roland Garros, one of the most famous tennis tournaments on the planet.
Everything started from Belgrade around 6 in the morning, a little late, due to problems with radio connections, through Amsterdam and the easy and simple airport, to the incredible complications in Paris. What it looks like when you arrive at the largest airport in Europe, where the three terminals are like three separate airports on “Charles de Gaulle” and where it takes about 15 minutes of walking and following the instructions to get on the train. All that somehow passed and was just a prelude to what’s to come…
From the airport to the city, if the apps are to be believed, there is a train and that is the only way to get out to Paris. What is the problem? Works on the lines that cause the train to stop after 10 stops and then there are two options, to listen to the application further and to cross two metro lines, a trolley and to reach the accommodation with a little walking and spend another hour and a half to two hours or to try a little the more expensive way via the cheaper version of a taxi. You know where the story is going. A man named Janik came, placed the suitcase in the trunk and everything seemed to be going well, communicating by pantomime, he knows three words in English, I a few more in French, we go to the accommodation, he stops at the traffic lights and that’s where it all ends . A person cannot start a car after a red light at a traffic light. He tries in every way, the computer helps him, gives him advice, but he doesn’t understand them. Why? Because he doesn’t know Italian. With a little effort we manage to translate and understand that the key word is the key. He searched his pockets, jacket, car and realized that the key was gone. It fell out when he was loading his suitcase. He stops the car in the middle of the street, starts all four, hands me the suitcase, apologizes and calls a taxi. He urgently leaves to look for the key to his own car.
The car stopped on the road, Janik ran away, soon I left with his colleague who arrived as a replacement. Like Janik, Farid doesn’t speak English either. I somehow explained to him why his colleague’s car was parked on the road and we headed towards our destination. Once again it seemed that this too long day would finally come to an end. Everything was going towards that until at one point I saw the stadium “Sen Denis” on my right, nothing would have been strange if I hadn’t seen it even from the train about an hour before that. My friend Marfi mixed his fingers again, there are two streets in Paris with the same name, in different parts of the city and according to Farid’s explanation “the app made a mistake”, so it meant that the journey to the destination would take even longer and be even more expensive. To draw a parallel, it’s as if he went from the center of Belgrade to Borča instead of Žarkovo… If nothing else, I used the time to learn what an e-sim is, how to buy internet and a card that doesn’t have to be inserted into the phone . It is not without reason that it is said that every school has to pay, including this one, Paris. I only hope that Murphy and his laws will bypass me, at least until the end of Roland Garros.
Finally, let me mention the most important thing, the reason why there are many Serbian journalists in Paris, Novak Djokovic’s campaign for the 23rd Grand Slam trophy. Already on Monday, “Filip Shatrije” will be on the field. Unlike me, he knows Paris very well, so let him finish it the way he has done twice so far, with the cup in his hands.
MONDO AT ROLAND GAROS: A city where no one speaks English, friend Murphy and a welcome to remember!
