Rebecca and I woke up at 11:15 am with a vengeance. After freaking out about whether we had missed the 11 o'clock checkout time, we packed our things and bid our box of a room farewell. Forever. We were hoping to get the friendly lady receptionist we had yesterday so we could play the female card, if shit got real. And we did. So after rambling and rambling about how freaked out we were last night, she says "Okay, I have to call." She called the receptionist who probably confessed to acting shady and then she called the hotel boss. Meanwhile, the old French man who played with the dog from yesterday (who now appears to be someone associated to this Grand Hotel) is jabbering about how it was "normal" that our receptionist was forcing himself into our room at wee hours. No bueno. Why was he against us. Por quoi?
But then I remembered how the guy hollered "You are so beautiful. You should come to the bar" to Rebecca at 1 am. And then she gave us our money back.
Nice French Lady Receptionist: I understand...you are women.
Micky & Rebecca: I know! We were scared.
NFLR: This is not normal. (of the hotel, not us being scurrdycats)
Then we booked it to our new and mod-styled hotel in Bobigny. Such a kind lady, but what a bootleg hotel.
Smooth sailing on the metro for a good run, then we got lost in Bobigny. We walked in circles in an odd residential arae for a while. Realized everything is closed on Sunday. Realized we didn't have the address to our hotel. So it didn't matter that there was no one to ask for directions...but then thankfully Rebecca saved the day with her Blackberry and looked it up (great feat, considering her phone screen is the darkest thing ever). Then we finally flag down a Taxi stop, we spot a man standing next to the parked cab.
Rebecca: Hi! Are you the taxi driver?
Taxi Driver: Oui.
Micky: Can you please take us to here (points to hotel address)?
TD: Non, [it's right over there, in French].
M: Sorry, what?
TD: 5 MINUTES. A PIED. (does the little walking hand gesture with his fingers)
R: Ohhhh, over there? K, merci!
M: Wait I don't understand...doesn't he want money.
R: Why didn't he just drive us there?
M: Por qoui??
So we continue on walking with our homes on our backs. We run across a little lady and ask her for the way to Hotel Balladins. More French. Then all of a sudden a taxi cab stops for her and they are chatting it up through the window. She motions that we should get in, and we take it the driver will escort us to our destination. Desperate, we open the door. Rebecca opens the door and low and behold, there is a baby strapped in the middle back seat. We are both confused. Then the taxi driver says to sit on both sides of the baby. So we do. He drives us to our front door, and refuses to accept our money. Por quoi?!
So Things we learned:
#1: We like Paris, but not France. (Clichy is the French people's word for SketchTown)
#2: Sometimes Taxi drivers will refuse you.
#3: Sometimes Taxi drivers will offer free rides.
After resuming normal lives and being our happy showered selves, we venture out to Paris, the real city centre, aka the place we've tried to see for the past 32 hours. First, we went to the Marais Quarter for some lunch, at this falafel place our friend Hilary (also from Dartmouth, on the Glasgow FSP) recommended to us, called L'As du Falafel. The lines were super long, and we over hear a lot of Frenchmen saying how much of a tourist hotspot this place is. The guy takes our order on the sidewalk, outside of the restaurant, and takes our 5 euros for our "falafel, our specialty" and hands us a ticket. Fast forward to us eating: imagine Rebecca and I, stuffing our faces, in heaven. Yep.
M: So many flavors!
R: And so many textures!
K, we're not always this into food. Only sometimes.
Then we decide we needed some caffeine to cure our headaches, because we are caffeine-dependent Americans. Slip into a coffee shop. First croissant of the trip - pain au chocolate, of course. I think I enjoyed plopping in my piece of chocolate into my vanilla latte and watching it melt a little too much. But that's okay.
Insert lots of strolling around the beautiful squares of Paris, walking alongside Le Seine, getting-people-to-take-our-pictures, and then we find some unplanned surprises! Notre Dame, the Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, Jardin des Tuileries, and then some!
I forget what the name of the restaurant we had dinner at was, but it was an authentic French spot. Rebecca has escargot for the first time! More highlights but most of them were just of us trying to learn as much French as we could from the menu.
Epic day planned for tomorrow! We love our new hotel.
Clocking out at 3:36 AM - Bonne nuit!
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