the outward journey
We arrived at Amsterdam station in the early morning hours. We stared at the station building with bloodshot eyes. The night before we had been fantasizing about what it would be like in Paris and what would come our way. That wonderful tension had kept us out of Morpheus' embrace. I looked into my girlfriend's weary eyes and saw there the glimmer of a happy expectation. I knew my eyes would show the same. She had been on the Thalys before, but this was the first time for me. “You go really fast at some point!” She laughed so broadly that it made me smile too.
The Thalys
The inside of the Thalys was chic. Although the upholstery was a bit worn here and there, the red of the interior reminded me of expensive restaurants. My friend laid her head sweetly on my shoulder and spoke softly and conspiratorially, "We are going to Paris." The train departed and the neon lights of the buildings rushing past left a mysterious feeling in me. I wondered what kind of companies they were and which people worked there. In my heart it would have been worth the trip already. Just a few rather bland neon-lit buildings from our capital and I was already satisfied. I was and still am quite a kid. Perhaps I was more childish on this adventure than I had been all year. I experienced the same tension that a little boy has in his bed when he knows it's his birthday tomorrow. We made some stops at other Dutch stations and finally we arrived in Brussels. My friend spoke while looking at this metropolis: 'Paris is even more beautiful and soon the train will go even faster'. A man walked across the platform, we both thought he was handsome and very well dressed.
France
We raced past the pastures of France. Although the sun had not yet shone and the bad weather would continue in the Netherlands, we were now catching up with the clouds. The train was really going as fast as I expected it to and I was amazed that the rest of the compartment wasn't as impressed as I was. There was even a man sleeping. My eyes didn't want to miss any of this, but more than once the view was blocked by walls of sound or a high rampart.
The Sacré-Cœur
We arrived in Paris. My girlfriend immediately pointed to a certain building in the distance. 'The Sacré Coeur'. The gleam of her eyes was now as gleaming as Swarovski crystal.
We got off the train and she looked sternly at my bag. 'Watch out now'. I was not a traveler, just a tourist, but she would protect me from my own ignorance. Gare du Nord was busy and smelly. It smelled so awful that even sitting here in front of my laptop I can still remember that smell. A kind of sweet, rotten egg smell. A cologne that was terribly out of date. We got the metro tickets from the machine and from then on the city was at our adventurous feet. My girlfriend had decided that we could go to the Sacré-Cœur, because we couldn't check in at the hotel yet. At the Sacré-Cœur we had a real hazing: we had to squeeze past a large group of Senegalese who tried to put bands around our wrists and then asked fifteen euros for it. Then we could enjoy the view. Before me I saw the city of a thousand clichés, but my heart beat faster. I thought to myself: 'I am a cliché myself.' My girlfriend quickly pointed out special highlights that we had to see anyway. The Saint Sulpice church, the Center Pompidou and the much lesser known Montparnasse. She told me that at Montparnasse you actually reach the highest point in Paris and have a great view of the city. I couldn't wait.
The beautiful Sacré-Cœur of ParisThe beautiful Sacré-Cœur of Paris
The hotel
Our hotel was just outside the périphérique and we had to get off at the Porte de clingancourt metro stop. It had seemed like a good idea in advance to cut costs and this led us to the Ibis Budget Hotel. I looked around and saw a neighborhood that instilled in us misplaced fear in those early days. The streets were dirty and the sickly smell of beer and piss invaded our nostrils. The fact that we were the exception with our white faces also played a role. Later we would discover that this district was popular with many tourists as Marché aux puces.
When we got to the room everything seemed fine. Until I jumped on the bed. I expected a soft and heavenly landing, but the opposite turned out to be reality. "No problem," I said to myself. We are here to conquer this city, you can always sleep.
In Paris
Soon I got to know the system of the metro, which only strangers my age had not yet had
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