Paris - Day 5

My first day in Paris was hell. It all started on the wrong foot. I was in Stuttgart and I had a reservation on the TGV East. I was very excited to use that train because you know, it's super fast. I sat on the cafe inside the train station, so happy, waiting for the train but then creepy 50 year old German guy kept smiling at me. It freaked me out of me so I went outside for a walk. La..la..la..la..I got back inside again, who do I see?

Creepy old German again. WTF?! I ignored the little shit and waited for my train and I was very puzzled when I saw the IC train instead of TGV on the platform. The shitty train compared to the TGV was on the platform and I had no clue if that was my train. So, I tried to ask around and no one had a clue what was up with it. Then, finally someone told me I had to take that train since there was a problem somewhere (don't know where) and the German rail people were on strike!

I was in for a freaking ride. I got inside the train and I sat with a girl from California (I kept meeting them everywhere), a German girl, and a German guy who was on the way to an interview to be a conductor. After 5 minutes, someone was making an announcement in German which obviously I couldn't understand thankfully the other two German passengers in our cabin was translating. Translation, well, it was iffy because they just said sorry the train is not here, we have some problems and have a nice day!

Gee, thanks! We all started laughing and we couldn't stop. It was so ridiculous! So they made another announcement and told us that we are transferring to another train and then to the TGV which is waiting for us in Strasbourg. I had a suitcase, a daypack, and a purse. I was having a hard time carrying them all while I had to switch to two more trains just to get to Paris when I shouldn't have to transfer! Fucking eh.

And on the way to Strasbourg, a group of police people came on the train and asked for passports. I pulled mine out and this one police guy couldn't believe my citizenship was Canadian. He had to share to his fellow policemen the miracle of life that day. Assholes!

When I finally got to Strasbourg, I had to haul everything again and find my designated seat. Took me a long time but I was lucky the man sitting with me was so nice that he helped me carry my luggage and we talked about a couple of things. He even pointed out some sights to me. The train was really nice and it was really really really fast!!!

When I finally got to Paris, after what felt like an eternity, my mom's friend was waiting for me already. She's a really old but nice lady. She gave me a Metropass and off we went taking the stairs.

I hated Paris because of the stairs. I was carrying everything and I had to take the stairs everywhere!!!!! It was absolutely hot on the metro, it was packed, people smelled, and I thought I was going to die from carrying my suitcase, my backpack, and my purse.

Stairs are evil!! And I had to endure so much evil just to get to the apartment. I wanted to leave Paris when I got there. I was so tired and the stairs did not help my situation that much.

We got to my mom's friend's apartment and it was tiny. I ate some food, had a lovely chat and then, I went to do my laundry because I felt so icky. I ended up leaving that apartment to move to another one where I stayed for 3 days. It was bigger place and I had more fun there.