Problems in Paris

After 2 days in Amsterdam, we woke up bright and early again for a train back to Paris, where we planned to spend the rest of the day before our flight home the next morning. We had no problems checking out of the hotel and getting to the station, though it was reaaallllly hard for me to get out of bed. Linds came in and yelled "JUSTIN! WE HAVE TO GO NOW!" Scared the bejeebers out of me, but at least it got me up!

I half slept/half read a book on the train, it really didn't seem like that long of a ride (must have slept more than I thought!). We get to Paris Nord station and had to figure out how exactly we were going to get to our hotel. The hotel address said it was in Alfortville, so I figure, duh, we take a suburb train to Alfortville. We get on the train, which is much more train-like than metro-like. Everybody didn't believe me and we were all a bit worn out and cranky, so it wasn't a fun time. We get off in Alfortville and there's absolutely nothing around. No cars, no taxis, no signs, just a random neighborhood. We wander around with no map or phones (everyone's had either died or run out of money). I decide the best thing to do is go to the Hospital we see down the street, because surely they have a map or a phonebook or something. Two others in the group set out to find a taxi. In the end, we got a taxi and the driver had to call the Hotel to figure out where in the world it was.

We finally get to the hotel, which is even more in the middle of nowhere. Ends up, we got such a great deal because it's an extended-stay type place in the middle of a modern business park. As such, there aren't many business travelers on Sundays, so the place was empty. Seriously, everyone was so cranky, tired, and grouchy, plus scared and not able to speak French, we literally hung out in the hotel for the entire day. I wanted to meet up with a friend from back home who's in Paris, but I had no way of contacting him (or figuring out how in the world to meet him!), so it didn't work out. I ended up sleeping a lot and watching Fox News International (the only English channel).

Overall, it was pretty much a worthless day, but I guess it makes for an interesting life experience. If I could have planned life differently I probably would have stayed in Amsterdam and just flown home from there. Oh well. We live and we learn.

Next day, we flew back home and I tried to recuperate a bit before tutoring English that night.

Overall, minus the last day, this trip was great and I now have a respect for Paris and Amsterdam that I never thought I'd gain. I'm definitely looking in to learning Dutch this year (Rosetta Stone, anyone?) and moving to Amsterdam for next summer. We'll see what happens!