Munich to Paris

I woke up a little late, but i had packed the day before, so i got down stairs pretty quickly. I redeemed my free breakfast, thanks to the reception girl in Vienna who had given me a voucher. It was a good breakfast like Vienna, although they lacked a sandwich press, which was annoying because I was late and wanted to do a bit of a take away. I got out to the buses (yes two) and was slightly confused, then remembered that the Southern Loop bus also left from here. I made double sure that i got on the right bus and then we were off. There were very few people on the bus as most transfer to the Southern Loop. We had a lovely Busabout guide, she was Italian, and very funny as she tried to make jokes that were lost in her thick accent, so she would always end with an awkward silence that followed with her giggling and then sighing. We all found her very amusing. For the first time since Berlin, I was on the bus without anyone i knew.

It was strange to be on my own again, I didn’t really like it much and looked forward to Prague, where I was meeting up with the my fellow VCA Students. We dropped some people off and picked some people off in some town, i really wasn’t watching, but instead sleeping. The first rest stop that we had was for lunch and was in France. I tried speaking to the lady in German first and she looked suitably amused, i then apologised and tried my French. I was surprised at what i had remembered and unfortunately “Mime et un chat” didn’t come to mind, so i kept a straight face. I ordered a chicken baguette which was very good, with very fresh bread and normal salad. I finished that off and we were back on the bus. I dazed in and out of sleep, whilst watching the Da Vinci Code, very fitting considering out destination. We arrived around 9pm and were all completely wrecked. We then had to walk 4 blocks to our hotel because of the lack of bus parking. I was walking with two girls, everyone else had pealed off to their separate hostels, and two boys had an apartment here so they bee lined for the subway.

The hotel was called Hotel Avenir, and was the first non-hostel based accommodation I had stayed in. It was also the most expensive so far, at 26 Euro a night! It was nice, the room was small, but had a balcony that we could use. I was in the room with the two girls, one of whom was from Kew in Melbourne (Veronika), and the other was another Canadian girl (Ariana). They had met on Busabout and had traveled together for about the last two weeks. They were really nice and I hit it off with them quite well. We claimed beds and then decided collectively that it was time for dinner. We all wondered the street inspecting menus and looking at the scenery. The Hotel is on the fringes of the Montmartre (Moulin Rouge and surroundings). We eventually came back towards the Hotel and settled for the restaurant just over the road. It was the cheapest and also happened to be the closest. I had a steak, chips and salad, Veronika had a salad and Arianna settled for a beer (healthy or what?). We all chatted about our travels and compared impressions of hostels. It is interesting that over here you can chat to anyone and get along really well, because you all have the one main thing in common, the traveling. It is really quite nice to be able to instantly relate to people.

We finished our meals, which were quite good and then decided it was time for another walk and maybe a drink. We found a cute little artisan bar across the road and up a few blocks. They had a huge wine selection, beer and very few spirits. We all settled for Rum and coke, and ended up with very little coke and a lot of rum. After we had managed to knock them off, we were really exhausted and decided it was time for bed. We wondered into reception and collected the key (one per room, very annoying!) and collapsed into bed.

I am going on the bike tour tomorrow and will hopefully then revisit some sights.