The French Fiasco

The plan was that we check out at 11, store our luggage for the day, go to Gare du Nord to get train tickets for Venice, hit up Notre Dame, the Bastille, Sacre Coeur & the Moulins, then pick up the luggage and head to the train station for our 8pm overnight train.

EPIC FAIL!!

The Eurail passes we bought specified that our reservations had to be made at the specific station we would be leaving from so we planned to check it out when we got in on Thursday. Except we were so confused about how to get to the hostel that we forgot. Then Friday we spent the whole day out and about and again forgot. So Saturday first thing we did was check out then stored the luggage and headed to Gare du Nord.

Gare du Nord is huge. Plus 98% of the signs are in French. So we followed the ones that seemed like they were for the high speed trains that go outside of the city. Except when we got to the ticketing place none of the train company names were the company our train was on.

So I asked Emily “Are you sure this is the station we need?”

.

Turns out, no. We needed Gare de Lyon.

It had already taken forever to navigate through Gare du Nord and now we had to figure out how to get to Gare de Lyon, a station that only 3 of the 20 lines go to. This was also when we discovered that the metro ticket in Paris is a magical ticket. We literally went from the hostel to Gare du Nord, to some other station, to Gare de Lyon, and back to the hostel on one ticket. SWEET!

Back to the train situation.

We arrived at Gare de Lyon and after much confusion found a ticket place for international trains and figured we’d check it out. So we get to the booth and ask about using our Eurail passes for the overnight to Venice.

Its booked.

WTF?!

These passes are supposedly for hopping on any train we feel like. This is how it worked in Britain with the uber easy to use Britrail pass. Eurail blows. She tells us that they have a limited number of tickets they can sell for Eurail holders so we’d have to pay normal price for the train tickets. LAME SAUCE!!! In fact there are no open seats until WEDNESDAY!

We decide to step out of line and try to figure out an alternative because we already have hotel reservations in Venice for Sunday night and Friday was the last day to cancel without penalty. After frantically consulting our Eurail timetable we try to figure out if we can even get close to Venice and then take local transportation. What we really needed at that moment was the internet. So we head back to the hostel (where my computer is in my bag) to go online and get our luggage.

On the metro rides back to the hostel we discuss our various options which range from canceling the rest of our continental trip all together and retreating back to Dublin or Edinburgh to going to Rome or something instead.

Once at the hostel we checked out prices on flights to Venice and they were just too outrageous because it was same day. Nixing that plan we then consulted the online train schedules to see times, prices, etc. for Italy.

I don’t even remember whose idea it was or how it entirely happened, but somehow we ended up with tickets to Rome and our emergency contact in Rome (thanks to my aunt and uncle!) looking for a place for us to stay.

So, we’re heading to Rome!

After booking the train tickets we left the hostel and made our way to the Bercy train station in Paris. We checked in and waited about 2 hours for our train only to find out about 15 minutes before the departure time that it was delayed about an hour.

What is going on today?! Its like Glasgow 2.0

The train did eventually arrive and we quickly found our couchette. It’s a little cabin that seats/sleeps 6 people and is TINY! There was five of us in there (well 6 technically since there was also a little girl with her mom and grandma) when these two guys came in and asked if we would switch cabins with some students since they somehow ended up 6 cars down from the rest of the group.

We all agreed but then there was some confusion as to the number of people that could switch and somehow Emily and I ended up with our very own cabin!

Awesome sauce!

Its been very fun so far. The top bunk is up high and I feel like a queen looking down on my poorly upholstered kingdom. Good times.

I’ve been trying to read up on Rome to keep myself occupied, but my mind is filled with thoughts of a thousand unknowns since this trip is now all off course, which is both exciting and frightening.

It truly is Emily and Bonnie’s European Adventure now.

Wish me luck!

P.S. If I die, Kellie you get control of my assets with my trust that you’ll distribute them appropriately. Of course anything worth $$$ needs to go to my parents (probably not much, maybe some jewelry/electronics).

Ciao!