Vite vite - L'autobus ne m'attends
We then set off relatively quickly with the Uber towards Bercy Seine bus station. We met a few Fire fans outside the stadium. To be honest, it wasn’t really that much fun. We greeted a few players, but the atmosphere was a bit subdued. Sure, Fire had won, but somehow they had been in a bit of a crisis for the last few weeks. The absolute dominance was missing and the games were closer than we would have liked. The friendly Uber driver even took us straight to the underground Bercy Seine bus station. We appreciated this even more later. Bercy Seine station is only “half” underground. At one end it has a kind of exit into a small park. The bus station was incredibly busy! It has to be said that in France, thanks to Blabla car (which operates a similar network to Flixbus in France), Flixbus itself and a number of other providers, bus travel is an affordable and probably more widespread means of long-distance travel than it is here. Logical, actually. In Germany, this only changed again with the introduction of the Deutschlandticket. In France, you have to be able to afford to travel by train. And some people can’t or don’t want to. There was a hustle and bustle in the bus station that we had never experienced before. The bus stops were only announced on the boards when the buses arrived. There were lots of dubious characters walking around, so you had to be careful with your belongings. You mustn’t forget that we had a photo case with several thousand euros worth of equipment with us. All this together made us a little nervous. I couldn’t imagine anything worse than being stuck in Bercy. It was a bit like the moment last year in Frankfurt in our hotel in the station district. There was no kiosk, but there were vending machines. Except that they no longer worked. There were only 2 small offices with security glass, in which there were overworked staff from Bla bla car and Flixbus. In principle, there was hardly any staff anyway. One employee, who felt 1.5m tall, was probably in charge of “security” in the huge station. Without food and drink, I wanted to go for a quick smoke. We didn’t want to leave ourselves or our things alone. So we went to the door together. It was besieged by people, through whose trellis you had to push your way. It was a kind of sluice for pickpockets… at least that’s how it felt. We smelled strange odors right away. It smelled strongly of grass and urine. There were people sitting around selling things that I don’t want to know what was in them. All small and suspicious-looking groups. In other words, I haven’t felt this uncomfortable for a long time. I put out my cigarette early and we preferred to go back inside. After a while, we got a seat from the far too few options available. With all our suitcases and bags firmly in our grasp, we sat there and watched the hustle and bustle. When the bus finally arrived and we were fortunately not far from the “platform” where it stopped, we were able to breathe a sigh of relief for the first time. Because once on the bus, we were sure that we wouldn’t get stuck here.
The trip to Frankfurt
The journey started, relieved we wanted to try and get some sleep. Unfortunately, this time it was another one of those journeys where that was simply not possible. It was noisy, the journey was uncomfortable and unfortunately far too cramped. Unfortunately, it was another night without sleep. Yes, we already knew it. So somehow normal by now. In the end, I had at least managed to copy the photos so that we could start in Frankfurt with empty memory cards. We were also able to charge a few batteries at the sockets in the bus. Fortunately, we stopped at a rest stop on the way, so we were able to get something to drink and I was able to unload in the bushes.
After an 8.5-hour drive, we arrived in Frankfurt. Of course, the main station. But we already knew all that.
What can I say? Frankfurt Central Station – we already knew that. The bus station is a few meters away from the entrance to the main station. Of course, our arrival at 6am on a Sunday was a bit awkward. After all, nothing was open and loitering on the street at the main station is not the best idea. We went to the main station. There is at least one fast food restaurant there. As always, there were lots of dubious characters hanging around on the street at Frankfurt Central Station. But we had just come from Bercy Seins… we were so hardened that I almost made small talk with the Frankfurt characters of the night. We then went into the station. Yes, Frankfurt train station as a safe haven. Sounds strange, but it is. Once we arrived at McDonalds, we were finally able to have breakfast and drinks. In the meantime, I was able to send a few photos and charge a battery. Somehow I fell asleep at the table. I slept sitting down with my head back in the McDonalds at Frankfurt Central Station. And, of course, unshowered after 8.5 hours on the Flixbus. After we had the perfect copy of the Flodder family at the next table and had to listen to the mother of the family tell her ex-husband and daughter about their sex meetings via a well-known app, I knew that I wouldn’t stand out here. On the contrary, I would probably make the other guests feel at home. After a while, we set off for the PSD Bank Arena. As always, the cab driver in Frankfurt then drove to Deutsche Bank Park (even though I explicitly gave the address and used the words “not the big stadium but the small arena”). He was at least fair enough to reset the taximeter on the way, when passing the station.
