Our Paris trip has been interesting so far. We did great on the train and actually met a lovely local and her 7 month old girl name Margo. She was very open about letting ppl hold her baby. We found this out because she had to get up and change Margos diaper and had to ask Em to move so she could get through... And in coming back just handed the baby to Em while she put the rest of her wipes away in the overhead compartment. She spoke decent English while trying to teach us some French (unsuccessfully). We talked about tv shows, she showed us on our map things we must see and do around Europe! The baby was adorable and I even got my turn to hold her!
We slowly noticed as we became further and further from London that less and less people spoke English. The two hour train ride went by pretty quickly and we soon came to arrive in Paris around 9pm. This is when it go real... And fast! I was about to pee my pants so we quickly looked for a bathroom. Thankfully in French it's just toilet, so this went over fine (although it cost me .70 euro to use the bathroom which at this point was worth it!)
After all that, came the real confusion. Our friend on the train told us the best way to get to where our hostel was...however it wasnt that simple! Everything was of course in French and we already weren't sure what train we needed to be going on! Very little people spoke English, but we went up to the cash exchange desk and asked in French if he spoke English. He spoke some and told us we needed to take the #2 rail. Ok piece of cake we thought as we thanked him and went on our way...Not the case.
We then couldn't figure out how to get to #2! So we decided to go to the ticket counter and ask that guy. He spoke a little English and gave us a map that he drew on and from there we bought tickets from him. Freaky encounter 1 came after that...I noticed this lady come up close behind me as I was getting closer to the gate where I input my ticket. I went ahead and put my ticket in realizing she was most likely attempting to get through the ticket gate with me so she wouldn't have to pay...well that was exactly what she was doing and so I slowed down as she gently pushed me forward as to hurry me up so the little door didn't close on her. Well she was successful and hurried past us.
We then got to our gate, got on the train and rode it to our stop. Imagine 3 girls confused, slightly lost, and a little freaked out realizing again we were in another country, at dark, and we were among the only ones to speak English. Then god himself (according to us) walked around the corner at that very moment and asked if we needed help...In ENGLISH! We said yes in unison and very thankfully. He gave us better directions and we started again. We Finally made it to our hostel, Le Regent Montmart. We got a chance to meet our new buddy from brazil and headed to bed a little past midnight.
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