day 9: sleepless and homeless in paris

Yes, you heard me right. Just as we recovered with a nice relaxing afternoon in the park, we were thrown into another situation.

We arrived in Paris France only to be turned away by the hotel which we had made a reservation with! It was a long weekend so all hostels and hotels we subsequently called (rather frantically) were full.

With backpacks pulling down on our shoulders, we walked two metro stations from Hotel De Ville to Bastille in search for two beds for the night. Fortunately Norie was with us and she could quickly dodge in and out of hotel lobbies to ask. But we kept hearing 'Complet' which is a French word I have now learnt to dread.

After about two hours (it was already close to midnight), we came to terms with the fact that we had to stop the search and think of alternatives. There were not many options. We settled into Hippopotamus for dinner and stayed till they closed at 3am. Fortunately, we found a bar (pictured above) across the road which was open till 7am.

I could hardly stay awake. Jerrain took a quick nap while Norie and I caught up and chatted about nothing and everything.

Although we were completely exhausted, we figured we needed to make good use of the remaining 12 hours before we move on to Brussels. So we dragged ourselves to Gare du Nord train station and deposited our bags for €7.50.

We had prata with beef and mutton curry for breakfast before heading to the Louvre. While Jerrain went in to say hi to Mona Lisa, Norie and I caught up on some much needed sleep in the park.

Location: Paris France
Cost: €14 medium rare steak and chocolate mousse dessert at Hippopotamus, €7 tea at Bastille cafe, €7.50 locker at Paris Gare du Nord station, €2.80 orange juice
Highlight: Staying out and up the entire night and feeling thankful to have Jerrain and Norie there with me