Paris in Style

Strasbourg was a rainy, miserable place. I realize that this is a harsh judgment, but after walking around in a steady, annoying drizzle that soaked through my clothes, the "Petite France" streets and German houses did not seem so charming. I also had a really bad experience with some food. I suppose it was my fault when I decided to order pickled herring for a lunch, and was greeted with a plate of something that only looked suitable as salmon bait. I couldn't eat it, and felt nauseated for the rest of the day. Also, our hostel in Strasbourg was a curious place. It was the biggest and most "hotel-y" hostel we have stayed at so far, but it was absolutely swarming with children! Apparently, they had some sort of deal for children in groups or something. It was a fine place, as the ONLY hostel in Strasbourg, but there were no other backpackers. Only children. There were no signs of the weather letting up so headed to the train station and hopped the next train to Paris.

After watching about four episodes of Seinfeld on Mike's iphone, we arrived and took the metro to our HOTEL. I should probably mention that I am writing this blog from a king-sized feather bed surrounded by down pillows in a classy, four-star Marriott Hotel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How has this happened, you may ask... I will tell you. So we sat on the floor of previous child-ridden hostel for about an hour searching online with the crappy internet connection for a suitable hostel. Either everything was booked, way out of our price range, or had reviews that said "Do Not Stay Here. This is the dirtiest most disguisting place I have ever been." We were quite discouraged by this. On a whim, Mike decided to check for Marriott hotels with his employee discount card, and found us an amazing room in the super classy Marriott. It feels quite strange to go from backpacker's hostels with bunkbeds and kitchens to a four-star hotel with room service and down pillows, but who's complaining? I have seriously loved our hostels, but it's a nice change of environment. And the best part is... we are actually spending the same amount for this hundreds of dollars room as we would for the crappier hostels. I am pretty ecstatic about it. The kind lady at the reception put us on the 12th floor, with a view of Notre Dame!

So we have three full days in Paris, and good sleep ahead of us!