I woke up when the alarm went off and hurriedly showered and packed my stuff. I made my way downstairs, checked out and had reception call me a taxi. The taxi came after about 10 minutes. It was about 7:15 AM when I left the hotel. It was a strange morning. It was very foggy, but not cold. On the way to the station we drove through a 200 or 300 metre patch of road where it had snowed. The driver and I both looked puzzled. Either side it was snowless and the driver said that when he passed 10 minutes ago there was no snow there.
I got to Hauptbanhof and stopped to have a cigarette. A police woman came and spoke to me in German. I shrugged my soldiers and said "Sorry, sprechen sie English?" and she said "No smoking" and pointed to an area that wasn't undercover. I headed over to the smoking area and finished the cigarette.
I went inside the station and double checked all the information on my ticket. The tickets in Germany actually have the platform number that the train will leave from on the ticket. I had never noticed that before. Information that may have been useful to me on earlier journeys. I had a look around for a souveneir shop as I hadn't been able to get anything from Hamburg the day before because nothing was open. I couldn't find any. I had been collecting shot glasses from every city I had visited. I missed out on Hamburg, unfortunately.
There was about 25 minutes before my train arrived. I made my way to platform 14 and found the indicator to say where my carriage would be on the platform. I dumped my stuff and stood and waited for the train. Hamburg station is very busy. There were people all throughout the station and the platforms were all full of people. 2 trains arrived before my train. My train was 10 minutes late. Just my luck, I get the only train in the history of Germany to be late. The changeover in Karlsruhe was only 20 minutes. I hoped there would be no further delays or I would have been stuck in Karlsruhe and I would not have been happy.
I boarded the train. My carriage was one with compartment type seating. I reached my compartment and found there was a guy sitting in the seat closest to the door. In the opposite corner was an attractive blonde woman watching movies or TV on a laptop. I put my pack on the luggage rack above the seats. As I was doing that a girl with a backpack came to the compartment. She said something to me in German and I said sorry. She then asked me in English, "Did you reserve a seat?" I said "Yes" and told her she could sit wherever she wanted. She sat down with her pack in front of her and I sat in the seat opposite the guy.
I took about my laptop and started to draft the Hamburg stories. We left Hamburg at around 8:10 AM and we were due to arrive in Karlsruhe at 1:18 PM. It was about a 5 and a half hour journey. After a little more than an hour we reached the first stop and the girl with the backpack got off. I changed seats to the one she had just vacated. It gave everyone a little more legroom. I finished writing then went to sleep.
I woke up about an hour later, an decided to listen to my Ipod. It was a warm sunny day. It was about 15 degrees celsius. I thought 'Here Comes The Sun' by the Beatles was an appropriate song. We were about 2 hours from Karlsruhe now. After about an hour we arrived at our second stop Hannover. Hannover looks like a pretty impressive city, It has many modern skyscrapers stretching into the sky. It's definitely bigger than I thought. The guy in the corner and the blonde woman both got off the train here. Another guy came into the compartment and sat in the opposite corner to me and got out a laptop.
It was now an hour until Karlsruhe and the train was still only 10 minutes late. Barring additional delays, I should make the connection with easily enough. I just continued to listen to my Ipod and bopped away. We made another stop at a city called Mannheim. Then after that was Karlsruhe. I prepared to exit the train about 20 minutes from the station.
We arrived at 1:18 PM and I made my way as quickly as possible to Platform 6. Once there I found the chart and stood where my wagon was supposed to stop. There was a smoking area nearby so I made use of that. 5 minutes later the train arrived.
I boarded the train and looked in the baggage rack for somewhere to put my pack. There was no space. I had no idea what to do with it. My seat was the first one through the door, so I sat down with my pack on my lap and let everyone else aboard. Once everyone was on the train, I took my pack and put it in the end of the wagon. It was all locked so there would be no problems. The trip to Paris was about 3 hours, with a stop at Salzbourg. I settled in and took in the countryside. I was sitting in a booth style seat with 2 seats facing each other and a table with foldable components in the middle. I was sitting next to a middle aged woman and oppsite us was an English guy watching something on an Ipad and a younger guy next to him.
Everybody in my booth got off at Salzbourg, however the booth filled up again quickly. There were 3 young people. A french girl on the opposite side against the window and next to her was a guy. The guy next to me had a backpack and had to leave it in the end of the carriage too as there was no space in the baggage rack. I went to get some food from the restaurant car. The guy behind the counter was very friendly and spoke excellent English.
I got a sandwich, a bottle of coke and a packet of chips. I was starving because I hadn't eaten all day. I started feeling tired after the food but no matter how I tried I couldn't sleep. It was only about 90 minutes to Paris anyway. I listened to my Ipod for an hour and then prepared myself to get off the train. I made my way to the exit. Because I was in a rush, I just threw everything into my pack and it was very heavy. I went outside the station found where the taxis were and had a cigarette. I wanted to arrange my ticket to Amsterdam while I was here, so after the cigarette, I headed back in to the ticket office. There was about 15 people queued and only 2 staff operating the counter.
The office was super heated and it was very hot. I had my jacket on as well as a fleecy shirt and Tshirt. I also had my pack on and I started sweating. I took off my jacket and shirt and just had my T-Shirt on, but I was still sweating. After about 35 minutes it was finally my turn and the woman arranged my ticket. It was 80,00 Euro. I paid thanked her and left. I had another cigarette and got in the line for a taxi.
As I drove the streets of Paris I was a little shocked. I had always pictured Paris as this clean modern city. As I drove through the streets I thought I was back in Eastern Europe. It's not a bad thing because it's my own fault for having preconceived notions of what it was like. My first thought was "Now I realise why they call Bucharest 'Little Paris'. It reminded me so much of Bucharest, only much bigger on first impressions.
I arrived at my hotel at about 5:45 PM, the fare was 7,00 Euro. I checked in and the woman at reception was very helpful. She seemed to think it was great that I had been travelling on my own. The hotel room was very basic. Very small and cosy. I went online to check messages and emails and then went downstairs and asked the receptionist about restaurants. She recommended a french restaurant that her friend owned. it was just down the street. She called them to see if they were open as she was not sure, but then recommended 5 or 6 others also. I went for a walk around the block to see if I could find somewhere that sells cigarettes. I found a place at the end of the street and bought a pack. It cost 8,00 Euro.
I returned to the hotel and went upstairs. At about 8:00 PM I was hungry and went downstairs and asked if the restaurant had returned the receptionists call. She said "Yes, they were open". I headed to the restaurant at the end of the street. It's called 'Les Rillettes'. It's run by a couple named Benoit and Marie. Benoit is the chef. I entered and told them that my hotel recommended this restaurant. Benoit seemed to be expecting me and was very happy to see me. He told me to sit where I liked, there was noone else there when I arrived. It's only a small restaurant and there is one table that is very communal. He told me about some of the food on the menu and chatted about where I was from and French food and wine.
I ordered some food. I can't remember the names of the starter. (I took the menu so I would be able to remember, but I seem to have lost it). It was a cooked but cold piece of Lamb shin served with cabbage. The cabbage was the same as I had In Romania, served with Sarmale. For the main course I had Beef Burgundy. It's beef slow cooked in a red wine sauce for many hours, served with potatoes. It was amazing. The beef was so tender it fell apart when you touched it. The sauce was amazing. Benoit recommended a red wine to go with the food and it was nice too.
I ordered the Moleaux for dessert. While I waited more people began to come into the restaurant. It was a slightly warm chocolate cake with cream, strawberrys and chocolate sauce. It was good too. During my time at the restaurant Benoit suggested I try a Tiki bar, that was just up the road from the restaurant. It's called Dirty Dicks. A tiki bar is a Hawaiian themed cocktail bar. It was owned by an American guy named Scott and the other bartender was also an American, named Mikey. After I finished dessert, I paid it was about 50,00 Euro, that's about average for Paris. and I headed up to look for Dirty Dicks.
I found it and headed in. The bartender asked me what I wanted and I wasn't sure, he gave me a menu. The cocktails all had great names and the descriptions left you guessing and amused. I got a Guiness to drink while I studied the menu some more. After the Guiness, I ordered a cocktail. I forgot all the names and the reason for that will become clearer later. It had Absinthe in it. It was good.
They make all the syrups for the cocktails themselves which is really awesome. I said "You guys have the best job on the planet, just tasting new mixes to try and come up with new drinks". They laughed and agreed. Scott gave me a shot of an Australian Rum called 'Rum Rebellion'. It's 75% alcohol. I shot it and almost choked to death. That shit is strong. I ordered another cocktail. It was one with Tequila and was on the spicy side. It had a lot of ginger beer in it. It was nice and not sweet. I spoke to some girl at the bar briefly. She was a bartender at the club across the road called 'Glass'. She was English, from Manchester.
An elderly Japanese man came in and had a beer. He had been in the bar before because Scott and Mikey knew him. He had a small beer. Soon after Scott got out some Sake and poured 3 glasses. They all had a drink each. I mentioned that I had never tried Sake before and Scott gave me his glass to try some. That stuff is potent. It is like drinking water and I can imagine myself getting very drunk on sake easily. Mikey gave me a shot of a new syrup he'd made from Thai Pear. It was nice. I chatted to them about different things, told some stories about getting drunk. They wanted a picture with the Japanese guy and asked me to take it. I went around the back of the bar and took the picture.
I ordered another cocktail. This time it was the Zombie. Mikey joked that this would be the end of me. I said, "I'm Australian, don't be so sure". The Zombie has 16 different ingredients including 6 or 7 different types of rum. I drank that and said "What's next?". Mikey was impressed. They have special cups made for 'The Zombie' and i asked if I could buy one. They said I could buy another type of cup for 15 Euro. It looked cool so I said "Yeah, awesome".
Scott then made me another drink and I took my time drinking it. It was nearly midnight when I finished the drink and I said I was going to go. I payed the tab, it was around 50 Euro. Mikey gave me an empty bottle canister to put the cup in. I was a little drunk but on the way back to the hotel I stopped off and got 3 cans of Carlsberg from the store opposite Benoit's restaurant. I went back to the hotel and that's all I recall. It was a good night and I met some really great people.
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