My European Adventure

I woke up to the sharp sound of high heels walking across the pavement. I peeked out of my sleeping bag to see a woman in business attire walk by. I hid back in my sleeping bag to think for a bit. To think or dream, I'm not really sure, the two can be quite indistinguishable when my eyes are shut. Only a few moments later, I heard the train approach. I got out of my sleeping bag and made the transition from bum to backpacker so lightning fast that I think I could give hope to bums. They just need to trade in that shopping cart for a big backpack. Although, maybe they started out with a backpack and it will only be a matter of time before I get a shopping cart! Well, I got on the train. I slept next to the track of the train that I needed to take so I could be on the first one of the day. The benches along the track were divided to discourage sleeping on them I suppose, but somehow I managed. Things hadn't gone well the night before and the misfortunes were not done peppering my journey to Cherbourg, France to get on a ferry to Ireland.

Eindhoven! The train ended up back in Eindhoven, the city I was trying to get away from the previous night. After many failed attempts to go south, I revisited many Dutch towns I had never heard of before and they started to become my new curse words. Eindhoven was my most used, and its foulness grew more putrid with each revisit.

I decided to go back to Rotterdam and fix the major mistake I made just 12 hours before. From my return to Rotterdam I learned how my mistake happened. A train to Venlo (another curse word) left from the same platform just 8 minutes before the train to Brussels. I had been so use to getting on trains early... erggggh... Eindhoven!

The lady at the ticket counter in Rotterdam informed me all the trains to Paris were full until a 2:43 train from Brussels. She also told me I shouldn't travel last minute and missing my train the night before was not her fault. I was so glad to hear her advice! I told her to have a nice day (in honestly a sincere manner) and got on the next train to Brussels. In Brussels, my downs were countered by a very big up. After calculating the time I would get to Cherbourg if I left Brussels at 2:43, I found there would be absolutely no way to make my ferry. I thank God that I met a very friendly train manager who allowed me to board the 11:13 train and even showed me to a seat. I arrived in Paris at 12:30, five minutes after a train left to Cherbourg. I was okay with not being on that one though because I was happy I was going to be able to make the 3 o'clock one.

When I got to the other train station (since there are many in Paris) I found out the 12:25 train had not left to Cherbourg, it was broken and still being worked on. I tried to decide if that was a good sign or a bad one. Did that mean if I had been on time that day that I would've still been as late as I was? Did it mean I was destined to not make the ferry? Well, I didn't think about it too long and I got on the 3 o'clock train to Cherbourg.

The 3 o'clock train was due to arrive in Cherbourg at 6 pm, 1 hour before the ferry's departure. I had no idea if the train station would be close to the port, if there would be taxis, buses, or anything at all. I tried to not even think about the fact that I hadn't even purchased a ticket yet! I was trying to think of chores I could do for them if they let me on a full ferry. (Full or not I did not know, by the way) I imagined myself scrubbing the deck clean with a tooth brush, Forrest Gump-style. I would've been happy to do it of course, I needed to be on there! I also thought about the backup plan and all the debt I would accrue buying a flight from Paris to Dublin. Or what if the flights were full?? What if I completely missed my flight home?!?

Well, the long ride to Cherbourg was a nerve-racking one. Especially when the time passed 6 o'clock and the train continued to stop at towns that were not Cherbourg. When we finally arrived in Cherbourg, I hit the platform running, as did many other people in front of me. As I was chasing after them, I was reminded of running to get to the front section at the Bruce Springsteen concert, but it was a totally different feeling this time. And as I caught up to them I didn't pass them because I didn't know where I was going and I figured they were headed to the ferry, too. Many people jumped in taxis, I jumped in my own. I told the driver, "The ferries! The port!" I looked at the clock, 6:24. The taxis drove very fast. I was watching the excitement from the middle of the backseat and as a citybus made a stop ahead the taxi in front of us couldn't wait for that stop. The taxi steered a hard right onto the sidewalk, and even around the waiting booth structure. We weren't behind the bus too long and it wasn't even too long before I was out and running into the terminal. The lady at the counter was surprised I didn't have a ticket but she was happy to sell me one and I was soooo happy to buy one. I wanted to hug her, I wanted to go back out and hug my taxi driver, I wanted to hug everyone.

On the way to board the ferry a couple was talking about how surprised they were that their taxi driver drove on the sidewalk to get around the bus. I said, "That was you? I was right behind you! I was thinking, why can't my taxi driver do that?" They said they paid extra, ha.

Sidenotes:

I don't condone using Dutch towns as curse words. I am certain they are nice towns and well-worth visiting, and shouldn't be associated with anything like foul language. The origin of the names as curse words came from each time I'd read the name of the town in surprise that I was there again. Sharing my thoughts on this subject was for humorous purposes.
I don't mean what I said about bums, that was for humorous purposes also.
Last of all, I know the lady at the counter in Rotterdam was right, that if I do want to travel smoothly and to places on time I should plan ahead better. I think her contempt for my style of traveling came to surface when I asked if I could just stand somewhere or maybe sit on the toilet for the train ride.

One night in Athens there was a partial lunar eclipse. For the occasion, people were allowed up on the acropolis after midnight. The regular hours of visiting the acropolis ended before sunrise normally, so I was extremely happy for this special occasion. It was thanks to my friends Lena and Lisa that I have pictures from this event because I went up camera-less. They even let me take many of the pictures.

For my last sight-seeing day in Athens, I went to both Olympic stadiums, the 1896 one and the 2004 one. The 1896 one was impressive but it was a quick visit. You weren't allowed inside so there wasn't much more to do than to take a few pictures and walk by. 1896 was the first time the ancient games had been revived, so it was the first year of the modern Olympics.

The most recent Olympic games held in Athens were outside of the city's center. I took the metro out there and I didn't know what to expect. I had heard you weren't allowed inside there either so I thought I would be taking pictures through a fence. However, you just aren't allowed in the actual stadium or event centers, entry into the sports complex was permitted. It was like walking in a park. Every building was a site to see, and despite lack of recent upkeep it was still very pretty.