On Sunday evening in Rotterdam we ended up a dinner party with some young people from all over. There were some folks from The Netherlands, Chile, Argentina and Russia. I was talking with one girl who was in her first year of med school and she was teaching me all about the German/Dutch school system. Essentially you take a 3-day test at age 12 which determines what type of school you will attend for the rest of your education career. I thought it was pretty interesting and I want to write more on it, but I also gotta get the rest of our travels in this blog before I get kicked of our Barcelona hostels free internet.
With Yanni
Dinner
Paris
We left early Monday morning on a train out of Rotterdam bound for Paris. I guess I wasnt expecting too much, I had heard it was dirty and that the people werent very friendly. But I LOVED it! It was a gorgeous day which probably helped. We did part of a self guided walking tour that my tour book had and then stopped for some crepes for lunch.
Stivo and Jess went to the Louvre for about an hour and ran around like crazy trying to find the Mona Lisa and take pictures of everything they could to look at later. I wandered down to the Eifle Tower which was really beautiful.
Not Leaving Paris
So, um, we were supposed to leave Paris on a flight out at around 750 pm. We were probably slightly over confident in our ability to navigate the subway system since we had been doing it without problems in every city so far.
We left ourselves about 90 minutes to get there, even though Information had told us it wouldnt be more than an hour when it was busy.
Unforutnately we got a little mixed up. First, we got trapped at one particular station and could not find the right train OR an exit to get out. We wandered/ran through the underground system for a very long time before we found any kind of information booth that could help us.
Then we found the train. Jess hopped on the first one but the doors started to close and one of the subway guards came up to me to make sure I didnt get on since it was too late.
Stivo and I watched Jess roll away and, um, got a little nervous. Jess said when the doors closed everyone was staring at her because they knew exactly what had just happened.
So Stivo and I got on the next train a few minutes later. Someone on the bus told us that we actually had to make one more train change before the airport. This made us really nervous because we didnt know if Jess knew this. Luckily someone had helped Jess too and she was waiting for us at the next station.
We arrived at the airport, but checkin closed 40 minutes prior to departure. We arrived 37 minutes prior to departure.
Stivo had already checked in but Jess and I hadnt. We decided Stivo should go ahead to Barcelona in case there was some kind monetary penalty for missing the flight and we knew Bethany would be waiting for her when the plane landed.
There was a 95 euro charge for Jess and me but luckily our next flight was delayed and they waived that fee. Good thing too, because I probably would have cried and really embarassed myself.
Since the flight was delayed we didnt get into Barcelona until about 2 am, finding our way to the hostel about 3.
Barcelona
As it turns out Bethany had gotten delayed out of Dublin and so Stivo and Bethany had to find their way to the hostel separately. But we all made it.
Yesterday we got some great lunch and went to Parc Guell and Montjusuit to see the city at sunset. It was really nice. Then we hit the town for a bit.
Thats it for now. Im doing the extremely abridged version since Im getting looks of death from other people at our hostel that want to use the free internet.
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