Paris is on hold

Everything has gone smoothly on our trip until today.  We were supposed to take the train this afternoon from Barcelona to Paris.  We got to the station a couple hours before our departure time, and our train was listed on the board.  We killed some time at the station and had a bite to eat.  One hour before departure we went to pass through security and go to our platform.  But the board now listed our train as cancelled!!  

We found out that the French railroad employees are on strike, and no one knows exactly how long the strike will last.  It has already gone on for several days. There was speculation that the strike would be settled today (hence our train departure being listed on the board at first), but that fell through.  I stood in line for around fifteen minutes at the ticket window to receive a refund for our train tickets.  Meanwhile, Phyllis called the hotel where we had been staying in Barcelona, and fortunately they had a couple of rooms for us.  She also called her sister Barbara, and Barbara took care of informing the hotel in Paris that we would not be arriving this evening. (We will see if the Paris hotel is really, really nice and doesn't charge us for our cancelled night.)

After getting settled once again into our old hotel, we both went online to check out the options for flying to Paris.  There are no direct flights tomorrow from Barcelona to Paris at a reasonable price, but Phyllis found a flight leaving Tuesday morning.  So, we are going to have another day for sightseeing in Barcelona... and our time in Paris is going to be much more limited.

On Saturday, June 21, Phyllis flies home from Paris.  I will continue on to London to visit cousins there.  I have tickets for the Eurostar train which goes through the Chunnel.  At this point, the strike has not affected the Eurostar service.  I am keeping my fingers crossed.

And, by the way, our taxi driver today informed us that on Wednesday the taxi drivers in numerous European cities (including London, Paris, Madrid and Barcelona) will be on strike to protest the rise of unlicensed drivers through cellphone apps.