catch-up... Valencia to Paris

To say that it is high time I updated my blog would be a serious euphemism, but I have been quite busy! Plus, the lack of internet hasn’t helped… but I’ll get to all of that in due time. First, I should start where I left of… but I might split up the entries into a few different ones so it doesn’t get so complicated…

Bec and my last day in Valencia was unexpectedly different! We decided to go to the City of Arts and Sciences, and after getting directions, set off. It was a beautiful, hot day, and within 5 minutes of setting out, Bec and I were regretting not bringing along portable airconditioners. After about 10 minutes, we were regretting getting out of bed. After 20 minutes, we were regretting not checking our directions.



After laughing at the statues outside the Museum of Modern Art, we asked some people whether we were getting close. We couldn’t really understand the answer, but by their laughter, we figured we were either really close or a long way off. Unfortunately, it was the latter. After another 20 minutes of walking, we passed someone wearing an Australian top. I immediately pounced on him, and asked him how far it was. He, too, laughed, and suggested we might want to take a bus. He didn’t know which bus, but pointed us to the bus stop. There, we happened across a woman who worked there, and got us on the right bus. 15 minutes later, we were really glad we decided to be “lazy”. It was a long way… but worth it! We watched a movie in the strange, circular Imax…. Well, by ‘we’ I mean I… Bec was asleep within 10 minutes. But we both enjoyed the air conditioning immensely! We then wandered around the science museum, which was very interactive, which is always fun! – Especially if all the instructions are in Spanish! We spent a number of hours there, and could easily have spent more! Definitely worth a visit! We eventually left at 9pm, jumped on a bus, ate a very nice rabbit, chicken and artichoke stew and stumbled into bed in that hostel for (thankfully) the last time.

Then it was up at 5 in an attempt to make the train at 6. We should have realised that to try for that would require much more effort than we were willing to put in… but as luck would have it, as we finally managed to get out the door at 5:35, there was a taxi right outside the hostel! So after a quick dash there, we made it to the station, only to be stopped after the security check because we had no reservations… so Bec dumped her luggage with me, rushed back to the ticket office, told the person behind the counter that yes, she DID know the train left in two minutes (so please hurry up), ran back, only to be stopped by a frightened security guard looking at a mad Aussie running through the security check, Love Actually style. We were allowed to proceed, ran up the platform, looking anxiously at our watches, jumped into our carriage, sat down and were off! Bec and I congratulated us on a job well done. It would only be one train change in Barcelona and another in Cerbere, and we would be back to civilization in Paris, all in a day. Or so we thought…

Upon arriving at Barcelona, we were told that we would have to wait four hours for the next train to Cerbere, and as far as a train from there to Paris goes, that was French rail, so they couldn’t do anything for us. That’s ok, we thought… We can figure it out once we get to Cerbere, our French is a fair bit better than our Spanish, it’ll be easier. So we wandered around Barcelona Train Station for a few hours, finally got the train, and were off to Cerbere, which is a one horse town if ever I saw one! We jumped off the train, and then proceeded to wait in line for the one ticket counter open. The woman told us that unfortunately, all the trains to Paris were booked out. That’s ok, we said… We have Eurail Passes, we don’t mind going via China, so long as we get there before midnight. Unfortunately, when the SFR representative said that all the trains to Paris were booked, she wasn’t lying. ALL possible routes were booked. The next possible way to get to Paris was a night train. Bec and I pondered the merits of staying the night in the train station, and opted for the night train. We entertained ourselves with cards and chocolate for the next six hours. Thankfully the waitress didn’t object to our only having one hot-chocolate in those six hours. Good times…. Good times…