Mon 04/08/08 14:12

Okay, I’m going to try one more time to update the journal.

This is the second time I’m going to try to explain why I’m in Paris right now instead of Lisbon. Back in Venice I was starting to get the idea that I was running out of time to see the cities that I’d planned on so I left early in the morning for Rome. I got there about about 10am and I’d scheduled a train ride out of rome to Milan at 11pm that night. That is nowhere even close to enough time to see the city properly, but like I said I was running out of time. So after a full day of running around, going to see the major sights I headed to the train station, to catch my train and to buy my next ticket to Madrid. This is where my bad luck, poor timing, or bad planning all starts to kick in. So I’m standing in line for my ticket, and a lady comes up to the person in front of and tells us that it’s closed and to go away… so I head to the platform and catch my train.

The train ride was like a ride through hell. The compartment was completely full, five guys and one girl. Remember, you sit facing each other, and to sleep you basically can’t move around. It’s not so bad if you have someone small across from you, but that wasn’t the case on this trip.

So we pull into Milan and I head directly to the international ticket counter, wait for my turn and the am hit with the news that the train listed in the schedule that I have only leaves on Monday… that was Saturday. So I wander around wondering what to do, and decide that I need to check the buses, maybe they have one that goes to madrid. So after getting lost on the subway (metro) for about 2 hours I finally get to the bus station. Now you have to remember that I’m carrying around two backpacks, one large one (80lbs) on my back, and one small one (25lbs) on my chest. For about three hours I was walking around like that. Anyway, I get to the ticket counter and they tell me the bus to Madrid leaves on Monday. What??? So now I’m baffled on what to do. I ask for a ticket to barcelona, nice, anywhere else I can think of that has a train station so I can get back on track. Nothing. So I blurt out, “what about Paris?” So I buy the ticket to Paris that leaves at 445pm, its now about 1030am. They don’t have baggage storage at the station so I end up just sitting around a small dingy bus station for about 6 hours. I never got a chance to see any of Milan, but with the thought of getting to Paris, and flying to Lisbon I didn’t really mind that much.

The bus ride: You have to remember that I still have the cold that I caught in Beijing. It’s not really bad, but I still cough and my nose runs sometimes. I think it’s not a cold anymore, but probably something that I need meds for. So I’m coughing and sniffling for most of the trip, the bus stops all along the way picking up people, and each time I try to look intimidating so no one will sit next to me. Finally at the last stop, there were two empty seats, mine and the guy across the aisle from me… yep, this kid the size of yeti gets on and asks to sit next to me. So I’m being a real jerk because he kept touching me. The kid was huge so his arm was pushing mine off the arm rest, his legs kept moving over and touching mine, I’d move mine away and his would gradually be touching mine again. So I told him to stop. I know, I’m a jerk, but I didn’t feel good and I wanted my own space. He said okay and everything was fine until about 3am when I woke up to an elbow in my throat. Seriously, I woke up and said, “Dude, what the fuck?” He apologized and that it. We got to Paris about 730am.

My first job was to find a plane to Lisbon. I still had reservations at a hostel there, and more than anything, I wanted to go swimming at the beach. I considered it a relaxing end to europe. So I went to the airport by subway. I get there without too many problems. But when I get there, I don’t know where to go. So I wander around looking for an information booth to see if they can help me. So they tell me that there is a flight leaving at 1pm at a distant gate… so I head out, two packs, remember and get to the airlines counter. They laughed at me… “that’s been full for weeks.” :) So now I’m wandering around not really sure what to do. I find a different information counter and explain what’s going on, and she tells me that there is a flight leaving for Lisbon at 1pm… “duh.” I then try to explain that, that flight is full and ask if there are any hotels in the area. At that point I think it’s been two nights without a shower. So she books me a hotel and I catch a bus to it.

Btw, my camera broke too.