It seems like those two things ought to equal a match made in heaven.
For me, they’ve kind of been exactly that.
In spring 2007, I took a train from Grenoble, France to Torino, Italy. I had been privileged to spend a week in the French Alpes, and one wonderful night in Grenoble – where I bought very fine chocolate - before making this journey.
In the warm weather, I may have appeared somewhat floozy-ish in my flimsy top and jeans. A group of ladies from Milan (I overheard their conversation) were seated across from me on the train, and they seemed to look at me quite disapprovingly. Great.
A while into that lengthy route, I broke into one of my chocolate bars. I actually had milk and dark chocolate with me. Gratefully my Italian was pretty good. I took a leap and asked them in Italian if they would like some chocolate?
It was they’d rubbed Aladdin’s lamp and their fondest wishes came true, they were giddy with excitement! They very enthusiastically accepted my offer, enjoying both the chocolate bars. Quite amusingly to me, they suddenly became much friendlier cabin mates, and were quite sweet in the end.
This was one of the first stories I shared with my friend who hosted me in Torino that weekend. Our conversation ended something like this ~
You have to joking!! Milanese are never like that. Never, ever!
Well. They were like that today.
The second time I had this sweet experience of Chocolate and French Trains was autumn 2009, when I took an evening train from Paris to Nantes. I was on my way to stay with very dear friends and meet their 2-year-old son for the first time. I would arrive around 10pm.
There was a young mama in my train car with two tiny children, who were not having fun. At all.
The babies cried and carried on at length, disturbing passengers around me. I felt very sad for this little family. This late train couldn’t be comfortable at this hour, when they surely would have preferred to be home, nestled warmly in bed.
Finally, this mama took the children out of our car, into the cold, drafty, section between cars where she thought the noise could be muffled.
In my bag I had a Halloween Hershey’s milk chocolate bar, that I hoped they would like it as a surprise gift. I walked back to meet them, and motioned for them to come back into the warmer car. I held out my Hershey bar and her little one grabbed it quickly, claiming it immediately.
Soon they were all chocolat-ing, giggling, and extremely contented, which made my heart so happy. They left the train soon after, and not before waving goodbye to me and blowing thank-you-kisses galore.
My French autumn holiday was off to a blessed start. I spent two idyllic weeks hosted by friends and extended family who generously rolled out every single red carpet that they possibly could. With tremendous gratitude, I grabbed it all and claimed it immediately ;) !!
Fast forward to July 2024. A fine See’s chocolate bar in my bag was ready to share, on my 3-hour midday train from Paris to La Rochelle. I offered some to the kind lady in front of me, with whom I’d spoken briefly. When we reached La Rochelle, she wished me Bonnes Vacances!
That was it, but that’s OK.
There will always be French train journeys, and I will make sure that there is always, always chocolate, ready to share.
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