Breakfast in Amsterdam, Lunch in Paris, Dinner in San Sebastian

Thanks to the Europoean train system, the title of this post describes our July 25 return trip from Amsterdam (much more about our trip to come).

We began our day with an early (6:30 am) breakfast at our hotel in Amsterdam, after which we grabbed a metro to the Central Train Station. Public transportation in Amsterdam is easy to navigate, but it is a bit expensive, and has a somewhat odd payment system that requires tapping in and out either at the entrance and exit of a metro station, or on a tram/bus. Nonetheless, we were able to use the system to get around the city and to travel to Delft.

Our train from Amsterdam to Paris left on time (8:15 am) and seemed to be going fine, although the wifi was slower than we are used to on the French TGV. On arriving in Brussels, we experienced a 30-minute delay, and also had to deal with a large number of passengers who appeared to have boarded the train without tickets. The train officials did a poor job of communicating, but this delay put us into Paris at around 12:05 pm instead of 11:35 am.

Fortunately, we know Paris very well, and were able to quickly exit the train and make our way to the Gare du Nord metro stop since our train to Hendaye would be leaving as usual from Gare Montparnasse in the south of the city. A relatively quick 18-minute ride later, we were at Montparnasse and were able to find a nearby bistro for an excellent lunch, including wine (of course).

After lunch, we were in well-trodden territory: boarding our 2:06 train to Hendaye, storing our luggage and settling in for the 4 hour, 45 minute ride. We were surprised by an unusual stop at another Paris station, but then it was the direct, high-speed trip to Bourdeax; followed by the slow, meandering trip through the south of the country to the Spanish boarder. Fortunately, we arrived on time at 6:52, which allowed us to catch the 7:03 Topo train to San Sebastian (our third local metro system of the day) and make it home before 8 pm, just in time for a casual dinner.

It was a long day of travel, but it still beats flying in my opinion.

Hasta luego,

Jeff and Shana