Ten wonderful days in Paris are over and now am in Rome. Ended up having numerous cups of free Turkish tea at that Kebab shop, visiting the Picasso and Dali museums, the Pompideu Centre, wandering the streets of Paris and visiting the Eiffel Tower one last time. Am in love with that beautiful structure - couldn't get enough of it while I was there, every time I saw it I got goose bumbs, seriously.
Went down to the southwest of France to a tiny village called St. Palais to visit my friend F. Had a brilliant time there. He was the best host! Took me to see his friends, cooked for me, gave me his bed, drove me around everywhere, he was a champion!
Took a train to Rome, was supposed to get there in 20 hours, but instead, I missed that train and travelled on 3 different trains for a total of 26 hours. The last train I had to pay an extra 8 euros for catching it a couple of hours earlier than my ticket said, and I didn't even get a seat for the favour. Sat in the section between the carriages on the floor. Was so fucking tired by the end. So happy to finally get to Rome and to the hostel.
Actually, the trip reminded me a little of my epic journey to Paris from Vilnius.....My plane left Vilnius at 06.45, and I woke up at 03.45 after having gone to bed at 02.30. Wasn't worried about lack of sleep as I was thinking I'd sleep on the plane and I was so excited about getting to Paris, I knew I wouldn't be tired when I arrived. Anyway, got to the airport well ahead of time, and checked in. All was going well. Get on the plane and everyone boards, then an announcement comes over the speaker from the captain saying that all planes had been grounded due to 'safety reasons'. No problem we all thought! An hour later, still sitting on the tarmac, other planes begin taking off but ours doesn't move. Another announcement comes over asking all passengers to get off our plane. So, we all got off and had to go through a security check, where they literally patted down our entire bodies and went through our hand luggage, unzipping and opening everything. Found out later that there had been a bomb threat made to our plane. Anyway, a couple of hours later, got back on and headed towards Copenhagen where most of us were catching connecting flights (but by this stage we had all missed them). Got to Copenhagen and waited in line for 3 hours to change flights - then got another flight which was once more delayed for an hour on the tarmac. Couldn't believe my bad luck. Finally got to Paris at about 18.30 and by that stage decided to wait for A who was coming on a flight at 20.00. Waited at the arrivals gate for hours for her to get off the plane, and when she didn't show, decided that I would have to find the hostel by myself and navigate my way through Paris. Went to the bus stop outside the airport, was feeling really sad 'cause my perfect day in Paris had been completely screwed over, and A didn't get off the plane, and luckily found a German couple who were going in the same direction as me. So, I asked them if I could follow them (they kindly listened to my story and said yes). Got to the hostel at 23.35, walked up to the receptionist and told him I had a booking, and he said that he didn't have my reservation...I nearly cried. He sent me to another hostel where the receptionist looked like Robert DeNiro from Taxi Driver, kinda freaky actually. Found A, as I'd left her a note at the previous hostel saying that I had headed over to this new one and she arrived just 45 minutes later, her plane had been delayed so she missed the connection too. Anyway, that was my first day in Paris.
