We started the morning bright and early (except for Henry), ignorant of the troubles that would plague us later in the day. We leisurely enjoyed a delicious breakfast in our antique hostel, overlooking the beautiful canals of Gent (spelt without the h in Belgium), and the many grand cathedrals. After breakfast we enjoyed an hour of window shopping and sight seeing in the quickly rising temperatures (this would become somewhat of a theme later on, though I’m getting ahead of myself). At around twelve we regrouped at the hostel and began preparations for our journey to the city of love, classy and chic, Paris. By half past twelve we arrived at Gent’s frankly underwhelming train station. We had planned to depart at 4, but we hastily made our way to the platform and hopped on an early train to Brussels, the capital of the European Union. We arrived at 2 pm at what we thought to be a wonderful and modern train station. But of course, something had to go wrong. Both elevators were out of order, so we lugged our bikes down a steep and dangerous flight of stairs. Then we moved to platform four, and began the arduous task of disassembling our bikes, careful not to damage the delicate machinery. While none of us particularly enjoyed taking apart our bikes (or getting covered in chain grease), we took comfort in knowing we had plenty of time. But of course, something had to go wrong. We were on the wrong platform! We strenuously heaved our bikes and bags to the next platform over, barely getting everything on board, the doors shutting right behind us. We enjoyed a relatively peaceful and scenic hour-long ride through the French countryside to the beautiful and historic Paris train station. We set to the unpleasant task of reassembling our bikes, with the sun beating down on us from above, and the baking Parisian cobblestone street below us. After an hour of hard work we thought we were ready to get to a delicious meal of Thai street food. But of course, something went wrong yet again. I (Henry) cross threaded the screws on my bike handle bars, meaning we couldn’t fully tighten it. We had no way to fix it, and all the bike shops were closed for the day, so I had to bike with my handle bars wobbling perilously beneath me. Luckily it wasn’t too far to dinner. We enjoyed scrumptious and authentic Thai street food. We sat on the curb on a peaceful Paris street as we enjoyed our food and the sunset, now not quite so hot. We made our way to our comfortable and modern hostel, The People le Marais. We explored the hostels numerous floors, enjoying the cool air conditioning, and hot showers. By twelve we were all exhausted, I mean absolutely pooped, kaput, completely tuckered out, and ready for bed. We slept well, excited for the adventures the of next day at the opulent Chateau de Versailles.
- Trekkers Erik and Henry