Solo again

As of 4:30am on Jan 2 I was on my own again. I was on my own in a nice hotel for the first 8 hours or so which I must say was very nice. I slept in, made my fifth trip to the gym in our 3 day stay and I took another hot shower (they just don't get old!)

I found Peace and Love Hostel and checked in around 2pm. Though I pretty much figured out the metro system, I somehow misread a street sign and walked WAY out of my way. When I reached my room after climbing 6 flights of stairs I was pretty spent. I wandered a bit, worked on applications but called it a night pretty early.

Luckily, the first Sunday of every month offers free admission to all of the museums in Paris. I spent the day (as many hours in lines as in museums) at the Louvre (meh) and the Musee D'Orsee (awesome!!). Walking along a hallway of Renoir, Monet, Manet, Van Gogh, Cesanne and others all in a row was unbelievable!! I am not a museum guy but I was blown away. I am not a fan of people taking photos of paintings. I am not sure why it bugs me so much but I really can't stand it.

This morning, I had to pick up my passport at the Indian visa office. Officially pick-up hours aren't until 2pm but I was lucky enough to skip the line and be in and out before 9am. I got back to the hostel and tried to buy my morning coffee. In exchange for getting ice from about 100 feet away, I was given free coffee and juice. When I was getting the juice a guy offered me a buttered baguette. I know I'm easily impressed but the day started WAY better than I had expected.

Things got a little less easy as the day went on. Nothing too bad though. I arrived at the bus station (my airport was over an hour outside Paris) well in advance and was behind an irate Frenchman. I don't understand much french but it sounded as though he was yelling something like "I'm an impatient ass and I'm going to make a scene even though there's nothing that can be done." The friendly woman behind the counter kindly replied something like. "I'm sorry but there is nothing that can be done." and changed windows to give me a chance. The impatient fellow pushed me out of the way and forced me to give him a big shove and my pretend I can fight face. I got my ticket, the angry man got sorted out and we were on our merry way.

Unfortunately, somebody must have spilled my plot to the authorities because my duct tape and jump rope were confiscated so I couldn't go through with my tape-n-skip terror plot. I bought my 5 euro ticket weeks in advance so I could duct tape people in place and whip them with my jump rope.

I made it to Bratislava and did my best to figure out where to go based on signs. I teamed up with two young french women and with the help of a Slovak woman and an Italian woman, we found the hostel in which I am typing.

I may head to Vienna for the day tomorrow and to Prague at night. Bratislava doesn't really call to me. We shall see.

Love to all