PARIS!

I made it! I made it all the way to Paris, France! No problems with luggage or security or customs or anything. It was amazing.  I had arranged to rent a bedroom in the apartment of a woman who regularly rented out to exchange students, and she gave me directions on how to get there from the airport. I took a train, then a metro, then a tram, then walked across the street. And through a gate into a courtyard. Then up to the building. Annnnnd then the door code I had written down was incorrect, and I couldn't get inside the building.

 

I wandered about for a while and tried to knock on the resident manager's door, but they were gone for lunch. And this is Paris. Who knows when they might be back!

 

Eventually, the lady I was renting from saw me through her window on the 4th floor and came down and rescued me.  I took the elevator up that first day, because of my suitcase... but I *barely* fit into it. It was tucked into the curve of a very small oval staircase. My big suitcase touched both walls, and with both myself and the suitcase in there, it was impossible for me to turn around. So, she hit the button and closed me in, and then had to open the outside door for me so I could get out again when I got to the correct floor.  O_O

 

I must say though, that bed, my own room, and the fact that the whole building was a large brick construct around an open courtyard - it was worth the traveling to get there.

 



I was never sure if I was supposed to be watering these potted plants. Needless to say, they did not thrive while I was there.