Paris to Aix En Provence

Paris is one of my favourite places to be with Verena made it even better. One of the most stunning things I saw was the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur, picture below:

It was so beautiful that I was totally unprepared on what I saw when I entered, it literally took my breath away! We weren't allowed to take pictures so I found this link:
(Although it does it no justice.)
http://www.linternaute.com/paris/magazine/visite-du-sacre-coeur/image/31653.jpg

Whilst at Montmartre I went for a pancake and chose one of the many vendors. I stood in line behind four other tourists who all ordered their pancakes in English from the rather bored and depressed looking pancake lady. Well, I decided I wanted my pancake made with a smile. So when it came to my turn I drummed up the biggest smile I could muster and asked (in French) for a Crepe complete. This was ham, cheese and an egg. She took one look at me and returned my smile. So my pancake was made with love and tasted so good!

One thing I really should mention about Paris is the drivers and bike riders. You see I'm from London, in London bikers ride like they're about to miss a flight. Paris is a bit different, here they ride like they've already missed the flight but they are determined to race the plane to which ever destination they were headed! It's all a bit mental. Crossing the road in Paris is something you need to give lots of attention.

Soon Paris time was up, and so goodbyes were said and onto the TGV trained I hopped. In just three hours I was with my very good friends Aure & Alize in Aix En Provence in the south of France. Here I would stay for eight wonderful days before heading for Barcelona. Aix is a lovely little city with around 140,000 people living there. Obviously I didn't meet them all but those of whom who I did meet were very nice :)

On the weekend Aure and I went to stay in Saint-Maxime, a beautiful coastal town opposite the famous Saint-Tropez. It was off season and we were staying in Aure's uncles flat right on the coast. We spent a few nights partying, drinking and reminiscing of good times back in bolivia.

Being in France was wonderful and just like a holiday for me, but Barcelona was calling and soon enough it was time to pack my bags again and head east into Spain and the capital of Catalonia.

Potsdam to Paris

The 607 bus came every 2 hours over the weekend, yes you've guessed it, I was off to stay in Ferch for a few nights. Ferch is a lovely little village SW of Berlin and Potsdam and it's where my friend Moritz lives. I did get to go to a German techno night, which was nice. Very dark, very loud and much fun!! Afterwards a German man, I'm going to call him Otto as I think that's what his name was, came to pick us us.....In his boat! Luckily the party was near some water and after a short wait Otto arrived (not really sure how he found us as the lake was massive!) and he took us to his houseboat/floating hostel for a bit of an after party!

I spent the next day with my friend Gregor recovering from the techo party boat saga. I felt rather happy and very looked after. Gregor showed me round a beautiful park in Potsdam and the next day walked me to the train station to catch my night train to Paris.

The train arrived at the Hauptbahnhof Berlin, I found wagon 97 and then bed number 76. It was all rather exciting, top bunk, excellent! There were 6 beds in the compartment but only 3 people, which was nice :) I've never been unhappy in extremely small and tight spaces so felt quite relaxed on my bunk. I finished my book 'Join Me' by Danny Wallace (an excellent book!) and settled down for the night. I think I only woke once during the night, and otherwise slept very well :)

I arrived in Paris at around 8am with only one thing on my mind, where would I sleep tonight! I had left a message on the 'Help I Have No Where To Sleep In Paris Emergency Couch Surfing Page or HIHNWTSIPECSP as it is better known.....I also had the addresses of 3 hostels just in case. I stored my bag at Gare Est and went hunting for some internet. I found some and logged on. 3 replies, great!! The first was from a gay French nudist, well what was I expecting? He seemed harmless enough, all be it naked and French. The second reply was from another French gay nudist! Now at this point you might be thinking how does he know? Well on couch surfing you can join groups, and both of these guys were members of 'Nudists' French Nudists' Gays in Paris' Gay Nudists' Being French Gay & Naked....in Paris' and other similarly titled groups. The third reply was from a rather cute girl called Verena, she says she doesn't really have a couch but if I didn't mind sharing her bed then I was most welcome......Couchsurfing gooooooood! ;) I sent her a reply and within a short while had her address....Result! She wouldn't be home till later so I spent the day walking round Paris taking photos and generally acquainting myself with this wonderful place!

Verena turned out to be really sweet! We got along so well that she insisted I stay with her for my entire stay. We spent the next 5 days exploring and discovering new and wonderful parts of Paris. I enjoyed my time tremendously with Verena in Paris. Here is my favourite picture of Paris:

Till next time :D