Day 1 - London to Paris
This morning I had to say goodbye to my roommate, Christina, and we both cried. I really did not expect it at all! Sarah and I made sure the room was all clean and got a take-away lunch at the refectory- and what do you know, we used up all but one cent of my meal plan! After I checked out right at noon, Sarah and I got our butts to the tube with our huge backpacks and I realized right away that I had overpacked. Again! But, other than that, there were no problems getting to the Eurostar and I even took a nap on the way to Paris. We arrived in Gare Nord and then things got a little difficult- we bought our metro tickets first, and then I went to the same info desk I went to last time I was in Paris and after waiting in a rather large line, we were told by an exasperated "info" guy in poor English that he could not provide us with directions to our hostel and that we needed to go upstairs to the big info center! Apparently the fact that there was a big INFORMATION sign above his desk meant nothing. So, feeling a little surprised but not yet daunted, we went back upstairs... and had to ask where an info desk was. We were told by the money exchange people that there was one right on the other side of a little bakery- we got over there and they referred us to the tourist info booth, which was way, way over on the opposite side of the station. Which was also closed. Sarah and I looked at each other and decided to just go for it, since we had some directions on our hostel confirmation. (I thought it was smart to just double check with info people that the hostel actually existed and maybe get a map too.) So, using our brains and the metro maps, we finally got ourselves to our hostel and all in one piece.We got ourselves a map and decided to head straight to the Eiffel Tower. We stopped for dinner on the way (a very cheap-because-it-was-probably-old sandwich) which we ate on a bench then after a few minutes found ourselves at la Tour! Our hostel had a pretty great location- on the south side of the river, and about a 20 minute walk from the famous tower.
We wanted to wait for it to sparkle, so after a few pictures we sat in the grass near an interesting group of people and watched them until I got weirded out and we moved. Let me describe them to you: about 40 people were dressed up in rainbow colors or all one color; they were dancing to about 5 guys playing different percussion instruments; those that weren't dancing were milling around a circle made by six different colored bicycles with a corresponding huge flag in it; and there was a goat. Once they all got in a big circle (next to the other one) and put the goat in the middle, I decided we should get moving before they sacrificed it or something! We watched La Tour get sparkly and went back to our hostel. I took a shower- disaster!The first open bathroom I could find was two stories up, the size of a shoebox and smelled like urine. To top it all off, it lasted for 10 seconds. That's right, every 10 seconds I had to push the button again so more water would come out! It was quite an uncomfortable experience, but I survived!
