Hooha in Paris
hello.. in barcelona now using free internet again.. it is kinda hard to type on this spanish customised keyboard... cannot type the aprostophies... argh..
it has been a wild ride and experience having to grapple with a cancelled flight and some adrenaline rush while trying to get to barcelona. was supposed to leave paris on 4th april morning by plane to paris but unfortunately our flights were cancelled due to the Paris workers strike. there were protests and marches almost everywhere on the streets. major metro stations were cordoned off and police can be seen everywhere wielding batons, stun guns, and those shield like things. that morning, two of us went to check out the trains out of paris to barcelona but the woman at the counter refused to sell us the tickets because they said they were on strike. they gave us information but refused to sell tickets! can you believe it?? after that we heard that there was going to be major protest near our hostel, so we decided to get to the train station first just in case the protest got out of hand and not allowed to travel to the train station. we reached the train station at 1pm or so, but our travel to barcelona was not confirmed because we could only purchase the tickets about an hour before the train leaves, which is around 8pm. Frustrated, we waited at the waiting area just where all the trains were docked. Around 3pm, I went to ask the counter again, and this time they sold the tickets to us. Apparently they changed the staff and my theory is that these people did not belong to the protest and were brought in by the government to facilitate the outbound trains.
The train was squeezy alright. 4 beds in one cabin but at least there was a sink provided. The train conductor came by to collect our passports but we refused to give to him. He said that the police will come by to check our passports at 5am. We argued that we will show the police our passports when they came around. We just didnt feel safe without our passports. My guess is that the train conductor just wanted to minimise inconvenience to us by helping us let the police check our passports on our behalf. The train was shaky and swayed from left to right irregularly.. Didnt particularly had a good nights rest though. Anyway here I am in Barcelona, wasted a full day, but well at least we are all safe here. It is pretty warm here in the day but cold at night. More to see in the days to come!
it has been a wild ride and experience having to grapple with a cancelled flight and some adrenaline rush while trying to get to barcelona. was supposed to leave paris on 4th april morning by plane to paris but unfortunately our flights were cancelled due to the Paris workers strike. there were protests and marches almost everywhere on the streets. major metro stations were cordoned off and police can be seen everywhere wielding batons, stun guns, and those shield like things. that morning, two of us went to check out the trains out of paris to barcelona but the woman at the counter refused to sell us the tickets because they said they were on strike. they gave us information but refused to sell tickets! can you believe it?? after that we heard that there was going to be major protest near our hostel, so we decided to get to the train station first just in case the protest got out of hand and not allowed to travel to the train station. we reached the train station at 1pm or so, but our travel to barcelona was not confirmed because we could only purchase the tickets about an hour before the train leaves, which is around 8pm. Frustrated, we waited at the waiting area just where all the trains were docked. Around 3pm, I went to ask the counter again, and this time they sold the tickets to us. Apparently they changed the staff and my theory is that these people did not belong to the protest and were brought in by the government to facilitate the outbound trains.
The train was squeezy alright. 4 beds in one cabin but at least there was a sink provided. The train conductor came by to collect our passports but we refused to give to him. He said that the police will come by to check our passports at 5am. We argued that we will show the police our passports when they came around. We just didnt feel safe without our passports. My guess is that the train conductor just wanted to minimise inconvenience to us by helping us let the police check our passports on our behalf. The train was shaky and swayed from left to right irregularly.. Didnt particularly had a good nights rest though. Anyway here I am in Barcelona, wasted a full day, but well at least we are all safe here. It is pretty warm here in the day but cold at night. More to see in the days to come!
posted by Fred at 4:12 pm
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