Day 5: Paris, France
Sunday, September 11th, 2005Oh man!!
I woke with a hellish hangover this morning! Not really headache bad, but just totally drained! At least I woke in my bed! I’d somehow managed to get back to the hostel! Even better, back to the right room and even into the right bed!
The confusion came when my total drunkenness of the night before seemed to be common knowledge with my roommates! It’s one of those times that has you thinking terrible, terrible things about what might have happened last night between me leaving the bar and winding up in this bed!
It seems after Debbie (my American roomy) had been back in the room for a while her decision to use the bathroom had been somewhat foiled by the door being locked! So wondering if someone was in there, she banged on the door asking. Nothing! No sound from within. It seems several thoughts had gone through her head from wondering if someone WAS unconscious in there or if the staff had locked the door for some reason to show they were unhappy with us.
Sacha was the next to return, obviously wasn’t her inside. So getting a little worried as to what was going on and getting no response to the shouts and banging on the door, they were on the verge of calling security. Then it seems they heard snoring!
Dave!
I vaguely recalled some of what had happened as deciding I was close to being rather “ill” last night I’d gone for the security of being next to the toilet. When after a while nothing materialized, for some strange reason I decide to just lie on the floor and had obviously fallen asleep in my rather uncomfy surrounds! It seems I did however manage at some point to drag myself out and back into bed!
So, feeling somewhat worse for wear I opted for a wonder rather late in the morning around the local area in Montmarte. I wound up finding the Sacre Cour and started what was to be a rather slow trudge up the hillside!
Now, having been harassed yesterday near Pigalle I was hardly chuffed to pieces when 4 or 5 guys swarmed on me, one of them chasing me for about 100 yards to try and put what was basically a piece of string, around my wrist. Despite my constant “non, non, non” he persisted until I eventually managed to shrug him off and move onwards. This is really starting to annoy me about this City!!! There’s a lot to see but it seems everywhere I go I have someone bothering me. It’s not what I want at the best of times and especially not today, nursing the consequences of last night’s over indulgence!
The Sacre Cour is beautiful!!! Nothing short of spectacular and some great views of Paris to be had as you climb up! It would certainly be up there in my top 5 of things to see here in Paris!!! To think, had I NOT been hung-over, I probably would have wound up elsewhere!
From the Sacre Cour it was an adventure down to Austerlitz station to go and get my ticket onto Barcelona for tomorrow. Not really realizing just what this trip entailed it was a bit of a surprise when I wound up on a train!!! I hadn’t expected this! I just hoped I was going in the right direction as the platform instructions were sketchy at best!
I did make it to the train station, in what was actually a pretty good dry run for tomorrow as at least now I knew what would be involved in getting there and just how long it would take. Unfortunately at the station, I couldn’t get the direct ticket to Barcelona I had wanted, it seemed they have already sold out! Certainly a lesson to be learned here for the rest of the trip! Instead I’m on a later train and will have to change near the French/Spanish border in Port Bou. They wouldn’t let me make a reservation on from there to Barcelona as it seems I should just be able to jump on the connecting train.
In the evening, I wound up at a restaurant with Sacha (cool!!) very near our hostel. It seems she was recommended this place with someone telling her they had eaten their best meal of their trip here and it just happened to be round the corner from us!
It certainly didn’t disappoint either! My Duck in Blueberry sauce was terrific and there was plenty of it! The price was a little more than I’d normally want to spend on my meals but a treat every now and again is worth it! We sat outside watching the world go by and eating for a good couple of hours! I must admit I could have stayed there all night, I was enjoying myself and the company wasn’t too bad either!!
We ended up at the internet cafe and finally (after just 1 month of trying) got hold of Alan!!! At least I have a phone number for him now before I arrive in the city he lives in!!! I’ve also booked myself into the “Barcelona Dream Hostel”. Might just be another “interesting” location with it being situated just off the rather lively Ramblas!!! Lets just hope it lives up to its name!
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