Europe adventure. Day 24 of 34.
Written in my bunk at St. Christopher's Inn hostel in Bath on day 31.
I woke up to a train worker giving everyone back their passports that he had taken the night before. I had no idea what time it was, since the compartment was dark and everyone had been sleeping or at least staying silent until then. Apparently it was around 9am, an hour before we were due to arrive. I took that to mean time for more sleep, but once everyone else started to slowly wake up and move around that was more difficult.
Eventually I got a change of clothes and went out to find a place to change. I figured a bathroom, because I also had to pee. I pinched the skin in my wrist somehow getting down from my bed, which was one of ones at the top of the compartment. It was a metal ladder and the way down was obstructed by people's luggage.
When I got to the bathroom, it did not look like it had the night before. There were drops of liquid I hoped was water all over the floor and the toilet seat. I wiped off the seat and peed, trying not to be too grossed out. Which didn't happen, because all of the pee sprayed straight back out of the damn toilet bowl like it was a piss geyser, explaining beyond a doubt the wet surfaces. Something about the motion if the train caused it, maybe. We were going very fast. I felt absolutely disgusting, trying to clean myself while the train lurched around, dropping the roll of toilet paper on the filthy floor. Sorry if that is way too much information, but it was the beginning of my first day in Paris.
After getting dressed in clean clothes (in the separate changing room, since I ran as fast as I could out of the bathroom) and washing my face as best I could with a cleansing wipe I ate some bread dipped in nutella and got my things ready to go.
At the rain station I left my bag in a locker, got a map and got ready to see Paris. My first impression was not the greatest. There were homeless people living in tents all down the road I walked, or out in the open with blankets. Children, too. It made me want to cringe.
Looking past that, Paris really was beautiful. White buildings in perfect condition, built often at the strangest angles. Cafes and creperies, fancy restaurants and bakeries. All around me there was food, and most of it I couldn't eat. And the stores were very interesting. You can buy anything in Paris, I think. Absolutely anything.
At one point I ran into a family asking someone else for directions to a museum. I was heading that way, so I tried to help them find it. I found it their names were Risa, Evan and Alexa and they were from New Jersey. Alexa had just graduated from college, so she wasn't much older than me. They were incredibly friendly and talkative, the three of them reminding me of the Rosengartens, my second family.
When we found out the museum was closed they invited me to go with them to the Opera House and the Lafayette Gallery. We stopped on the way to eat something at a little bakery. Thankfully there was salad there. Pretty good salad, with corn and carrots and smoked salmon. It came with a tiny little bottle of oil and vinegar that was just adorable.
The Opera House was amazing. So beautiful. I felt like I should have been wearing a ball gown just to be there and was very frustrated when none of the pictures did it any justice. They had a library, costume display and painting gallery in the Opera House. It was definitely a good start to sightseeing in Paris.
The Lafayette Gallery was a shopping mall, really. But to me it was the building itself that made it so cool, not the floors of floors of things to buy. There was the most beautiful stained glass dome ceiling. So, so gorgeous. At the top floor there was a cafeteria, a buffet style kind of thing, and that it where we ate lunch. I had custard and fruit, steak, chips (fries) and mashed potatoes. It wasn't very expensive and it was so much food. Good food.
After shopping for a while we all reconvened at an Apple store across the street and from there we took the metro to the Eiffel Tower. The three of them were planning on taking a boat tour on the Seine, but I had a couchsurfer I was planning on meeting at 7pm, so I didn't go with them.
Thankfully, I would be seeing them again. They had invited me to spend the night with them at the apartment where they were staying. They had an extra bed, because Alexa's older brother had parted ways with them the day before. I gratefully accepted their invitation, since I was a little unsure of my sleeping arrangements for the night.
Orlando was a couchsurfer who had offered to host me just a day or two before I arrived in Paris. I had another host for every night but the first night, so I had accepted his invitation for one night. We were going to meet at his apartment that evening. Obviously I wasn't going to stay there now, since I had told Alexa and her parents I would stay with them. I told Orlando that and he didn't seem to mind. We sat outside of his apartment and had tea, talking for a couple of hours.
On my way out I used the bathroom in his place and saw how incredibly small it was. The bathroom was basically part of the very narrow, low-ceilinged main room. You just scooted past the small couch, took a step through the kitchen and there in the corner was a tub and toilet. There wasn't really a wall in between, just a piece of plywood you could drag in front of the toilet.
I think his bed must have been up above that floor. Just assuming he had one. After peeing I went back down the small spiral staircase on the far side of the room, which was by far the coolest part of the whole attic-like place.
I was running very late to get my bag from the locker at the rain station. The locker room closed at 10pm and I left at about 9:20. I ran to the metro station and got off across the river from the train station, rushing as fast as I could and praying I didn't get lost for once. I got there with 4 minutes to spare.
The apartment where I was staying was at the edge of the city, the last metro stop on line 1. I got off there and walked the 15 minute trek to the building, where I punched in the code and went up the elevator to the 7th floor. It was just before 11pm when I arrived, and they opened the door in pajamas. Still, I was welcomed like I was part of the family. It was so nice.
The first thing I did was shower. It was without a doubt the best shower I have ever had (by myself), even though I tripped getting in and have a nasty bruise. Blisters and bruises and all, I felt like a new person after that shower.
I ate a yogurt they offered me, unpacked and repacked my bag and made a long distance call with the phone there, which was already set up to call the US for free. I was talking to my dad until 1:30 in the morning, and afterward I fell into bed. It was a pretty good day, I must say, with an uncertain start and a wonderful end.
I woke up to a train worker giving everyone back their passports that he had taken the night before. I had no idea what time it was, since the compartment was dark and everyone had been sleeping or at least staying silent until then. Apparently it was around 9am, an hour before we were due to arrive. I took that to mean time for more sleep, but once everyone else started to slowly wake up and move around that was more difficult.
Eventually I got a change of clothes and went out to find a place to change. I figured a bathroom, because I also had to pee. I pinched the skin in my wrist somehow getting down from my bed, which was one of ones at the top of the compartment. It was a metal ladder and the way down was obstructed by people's luggage.
When I got to the bathroom, it did not look like it had the night before. There were drops of liquid I hoped was water all over the floor and the toilet seat. I wiped off the seat and peed, trying not to be too grossed out. Which didn't happen, because all of the pee sprayed straight back out of the damn toilet bowl like it was a piss geyser, explaining beyond a doubt the wet surfaces. Something about the motion if the train caused it, maybe. We were going very fast. I felt absolutely disgusting, trying to clean myself while the train lurched around, dropping the roll of toilet paper on the filthy floor. Sorry if that is way too much information, but it was the beginning of my first day in Paris.
After getting dressed in clean clothes (in the separate changing room, since I ran as fast as I could out of the bathroom) and washing my face as best I could with a cleansing wipe I ate some bread dipped in nutella and got my things ready to go.
At the rain station I left my bag in a locker, got a map and got ready to see Paris. My first impression was not the greatest. There were homeless people living in tents all down the road I walked, or out in the open with blankets. Children, too. It made me want to cringe.
Looking past that, Paris really was beautiful. White buildings in perfect condition, built often at the strangest angles. Cafes and creperies, fancy restaurants and bakeries. All around me there was food, and most of it I couldn't eat. And the stores were very interesting. You can buy anything in Paris, I think. Absolutely anything.
At one point I ran into a family asking someone else for directions to a museum. I was heading that way, so I tried to help them find it. I found it their names were Risa, Evan and Alexa and they were from New Jersey. Alexa had just graduated from college, so she wasn't much older than me. They were incredibly friendly and talkative, the three of them reminding me of the Rosengartens, my second family.
When we found out the museum was closed they invited me to go with them to the Opera House and the Lafayette Gallery. We stopped on the way to eat something at a little bakery. Thankfully there was salad there. Pretty good salad, with corn and carrots and smoked salmon. It came with a tiny little bottle of oil and vinegar that was just adorable.The Opera House was amazing. So beautiful. I felt like I should have been wearing a ball gown just to be there and was very frustrated when none of the pictures did it any justice. They had a library, costume display and painting gallery in the Opera House. It was definitely a good start to sightseeing in Paris.
The Lafayette Gallery was a shopping mall, really. But to me it was the building itself that made it so cool, not the floors of floors of things to buy. There was the most beautiful stained glass dome ceiling. So, so gorgeous. At the top floor there was a cafeteria, a buffet style kind of thing, and that it where we ate lunch. I had custard and fruit, steak, chips (fries) and mashed potatoes. It wasn't very expensive and it was so much food. Good food. 
After shopping for a while we all reconvened at an Apple store across the street and from there we took the metro to the Eiffel Tower. The three of them were planning on taking a boat tour on the Seine, but I had a couchsurfer I was planning on meeting at 7pm, so I didn't go with them.
Thankfully, I would be seeing them again. They had invited me to spend the night with them at the apartment where they were staying. They had an extra bed, because Alexa's older brother had parted ways with them the day before. I gratefully accepted their invitation, since I was a little unsure of my sleeping arrangements for the night.
Orlando was a couchsurfer who had offered to host me just a day or two before I arrived in Paris. I had another host for every night but the first night, so I had accepted his invitation for one night. We were going to meet at his apartment that evening. Obviously I wasn't going to stay there now, since I had told Alexa and her parents I would stay with them. I told Orlando that and he didn't seem to mind. We sat outside of his apartment and had tea, talking for a couple of hours.On my way out I used the bathroom in his place and saw how incredibly small it was. The bathroom was basically part of the very narrow, low-ceilinged main room. You just scooted past the small couch, took a step through the kitchen and there in the corner was a tub and toilet. There wasn't really a wall in between, just a piece of plywood you could drag in front of the toilet.
I think his bed must have been up above that floor. Just assuming he had one. After peeing I went back down the small spiral staircase on the far side of the room, which was by far the coolest part of the whole attic-like place.I was running very late to get my bag from the locker at the rain station. The locker room closed at 10pm and I left at about 9:20. I ran to the metro station and got off across the river from the train station, rushing as fast as I could and praying I didn't get lost for once. I got there with 4 minutes to spare.
The apartment where I was staying was at the edge of the city, the last metro stop on line 1. I got off there and walked the 15 minute trek to the building, where I punched in the code and went up the elevator to the 7th floor. It was just before 11pm when I arrived, and they opened the door in pajamas. Still, I was welcomed like I was part of the family. It was so nice.
The first thing I did was shower. It was without a doubt the best shower I have ever had (by myself), even though I tripped getting in and have a nasty bruise. Blisters and bruises and all, I felt like a new person after that shower.
I ate a yogurt they offered me, unpacked and repacked my bag and made a long distance call with the phone there, which was already set up to call the US for free. I was talking to my dad until 1:30 in the morning, and afterward I fell into bed. It was a pretty good day, I must say, with an uncertain start and a wonderful end.
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