I took it easy and relaxed at home, and did some reading. In the afternoon, we were headed to Paris, the city I have been wanting so much to visit. The Eurostar ride was nice, quiet, and fast. After 2.5 hours, there we were, at Paris. It was night by then, and we headed towards our hotel, close to St. Paul station.
Apparently the region we were staying in, used to be a poor area in the old times, where Jews lived under hard conditions. Now, it is the center of the city and a nice area. Laleh did not look forward to riding the metros in Paris. "They are dirty and they smell", she claimed. "Come on, it is not that bad", I told her. After coming out of the metro station and walking through a narrow street, we found our hostel behind tall doors. We buzzed in and the door was opened from the inside.
We went to the office. The guy pulled out our reservation. "Passport", he asked for. First, I thought he was just checking our IDs. Then, I realized he wanted to keep it until the next morning to make sure we pay. I gave him my credit card, asking him to charge the costs right then. "The receptionist works here until noon, I cannot charge your card now, you have to come back in the morning". I asked for a receipt, a piece of paper indicating he has our passports. "No", he said. They never do that. What? If I come back in the morning and our passports had disappeared, what were we supposed to do? I told him keep my credit card instead, you can charge it in the morning. He did not accept. Laleh reassured me it was going to be fine, this is how they work here. I complied but I was not happy.
The hostel we stayed in used to be a Montessori school in 1700s, where nuns lived. It was well-maintained and clean. There were three single beds in our room, two of which were stacked. There were small lights on the wall, next to the pillow side of the beds, with switches in case each person wanted to read at night. In the bathroom, the light would go off every 5 seconds and I had to move to tell its sensors to come back on. It was annoying. We soon crashed.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
:D welcome to Europe where everything is inefficient (well, in comparison to the U.S, not Japan:))
Wish you have a great time in Paris!! I suggest seeing Ile saint louis and the other little island in the middle o f the river. ther neighborhood around that area is very old with many nice chocolate, truffle and ice cream bars. try "Amorino" ice cream (its an italian chain) and it's wonderful!
Thanks! Yes, so far the main plus I see about living in the U.S. is that almost anything is available anytime there.
Thanks for the suggestions, but I am actually already back to London. I am a few days behind in writing. It was nice visit Paris and I ate good food and pastry. I have to keep that island in mind for hopefully a future trip! Maybe I still can get that Italian ice cream here though :-)
Post a Comment