Planes, trains and (I wish I had an) automobile
19th September, 09
Did you guys miss me? I left for Europe a week ago on holiday and have been having a wonderful time! I’m typing this post on my iPhone so please excuse me if some of the words run intoeachother or if worss are mis-spelt. I heart my iPhone but the keyboard is tiny and the auto spell-check doesn’t always work.
The outbound journey was a bit rough considering the three day Cabbagetown festival ended and I had less than a day to get myself ready for this trip. Last minute emails needed to be sent, orders to send, monies to exchange and stuff to pack…
I didn’t sleep very much the night before my great escape so by the time I got on the plane I was exhausted and ready to sleep. How unlucky for me that there were a couple of REALLY fussy toddlers on board who did not like flying one little bit so they managed to cry non stop the whole way! Everyone was quite fed up with all the crying as we were all exhausted and trying to sleep on this overnight flight. Thankfully I brought some headphones with me so I could listen to some music. That tuned the crying out a little bit but let me tell you I could STILL hear their crying even with my headphones on! At some point my neighbour, a sweet older lady traveling with her daughter asked if there was anything the stewardess could do about the crying baby and the haughty stewardess said ,”Well let’s just put the child outside then shall we?”. My neighbour said that’s not what she had meant but do they have any earplugs for the rest of us and of course the answer was no. I’m not saying mothers shouldn’t fly with fussy babies but the airline should be well equipped to accommodate them so the rest of the passengers can have a comfortable flight right? I mean we all paid to have a peaceful journey and there was definitely no need for the stewardess to be rude to us for complaining. It was not an unreasonable request.
By the time we landed in Paris I was feeling pretty rough. I’ve managed to sleep maybe 6 hours in total in the last 48 hours (no thanks to getting up early the day before and to screeching babies). I’m supposed to catch a train right away to meet my friend in Amsterdam and had 3 hours to get from the CDG airport to the Gare Du Nord train terminal to make my connection. I’m not talking about hopping in a cab either, I’m supposed to catch the RER train into the city with instructions my sweet and thoughtful friend gave me in an email.
Everything went smoothly considering I was totally jet-lagged, have never been here before and don’t speak French. By the time I got to the train terminal I had about an hour and a half to spare (woohoo! Go Amy go!) so I even managed to find myself a nice cafe, sit outside and had a sandwich and a beer (in honour of The Boy who told me that would’ve been the first thing hed do if he was there with me). After the much needed break I sauntered back to the train terminal, looked on the big departure board for my train platform and boarded the train…
The train departed with no screeching babies. So far so good I thought, and gave myself a pat on the back. My friend was meeting me at the Amsterdam train station in a few hours so its a straightfoward ride from here. Thinking the hardest part of the journey was behind me, I fell asleep right away…
A couple hours later the train stopped. What the #^+!? I woke up to some announcement that the stations up ahead (up ahead of what? Where the hell are we?) is experiencing power problems. So the train were on can go no further. What did that #%# mean?! And WHERE the hell are we?? Everyone had to get off this train, catch a bus to the closest train station in some nowhere town to catch another train that will take us to Amsterdam. Some passengers must’ve thought this was a joke or maybe they were in deep denial cos a few of them actually went to the bar car and bought themselves a beer or two instead of leaving the station. I wasn’t much sharper than those tools at this point, from having been woken up so suddenly, but I knew we had to at least get off the stupid train.
I think I overheard someone say that we were just outside of Belgium but man I was so groggy you could’ve told me we were in japan, to take my luggage, jump in the ocean and I would’ve thought that’s a good idea. But off we all go, hauling our luggage along cobblestone paths, stand by the side of some tiny road to wait for some bus to come save us. I am beginning to remember scenes from the movie Hostel. It was right around this time that I really missed my car…
3 buses pull up and everyone starts racing like if they don’t get on then no one will ever come by this way again. Of course there’s plenty of room! We all get on and the friendly staff from the defunct train waved us goodbye. Was it just me or were they laughing a bit as they bid us farewell?
The train dropped us off at some Dutch railway station and pulled away. It was every man for himself! You don’t really notice how many languages are spoken in Europe until you get a bunch of lost strangers together collectively staring blankly at a train timetable. Once in a while a couple would say something to each other in some language and rush off to a platform. I kinda just perked my ears up until I heard one of them speak English with the word “Amsterdam” tacked on at some point in their conversation. I figured I needed to be on the train that’s on platform number 6. Pretty smart right? But boy I was wrong. At some point I had to get off said train again and get onto another freakin’ train. Well at least I didn’t end up in Germany I guess. I finally arrived in Amsterdam station 2 hours after when I was supposed to arrive. Completely frazzled and discombobulated, my friend welcomed me with a giant hug.
Well as traumatizing as that part of the journey was, the rest of it has been dreamy! We spent our time in Amsterdam eating fondue, checking out the red light district, sitting at cafes along the canals, doubling on the back of my friends bicycle (it’s safe I promise!), walking around checking out markets and shops. Oh the shops! They are adorable! I never wished I owned my own shop before, but now Im having very real fantasies about being a shopkeeper one day!
Alright gotta go. Im actually not even in Amsterdam anymore. I’m in Paris now staying with another friend. More on Paris the next time. My fingers are starting to cramp from the mini typing.
Categories: Field Trips.
Tags: Amsterdam, Eorupe Vacation, Paris, Thalys Train.
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