So... our drive from Chaumont sur Tharonne (about 50km south of Orleans) back to Charles De Gaulle airport. My turn to drive. Oh, and the website to the little bed and breakfast we stayed at is here: www.lepetitclos.com the most amazing little place with the nicest people! Oh, Terry and Rene - be still my beating heart!
So, all was going swimmingly. Had a lovely sleep in my own bed, no Kristi to hog the blanket or the mattress, my own room, lovely breakfast, said goodbye to the owners and was cruising along the highway at a cool 130km/h. Then... we get lost. I'm instructed (and I would like to say this is NO ONE'S fault, I am not pointing the finger at anyone in case anyone starts getting offended... I'm just merely stating facts) to turn off when we should in fact have kept going. This resulted in numerous wrong ways and us ultimately heading in the wrong direction... back to where we had came.
After much merging on and off the highway, the final straw came when we realised we were in fact going in the wrong direction. I pulled over at a pit stop as I was busting for the loo, turned off the engine and stormed out of the car. A mixture of frustration, anger and stress, my legs were like jelly and my hands were shaking. You try driving on the highway in another country for the first time, getting lost and having to keep merging on and off while cars are whizzing by. Not fun.
THEN we were almost at the airport when we missed the turn off and had to keep driving for another 10km. We needed to get petrol as we had to return the car with a full tank, so I do so, go to pay when this shithead thinks he can cut in front of me in the line. I must have been breathing fire by this point because this man backed off so quickly, I'm surprised he didn't cower in the corner. I was not in the mood to let someone go ahead of me. Not. In. The Mood.
Anyway, we returned the car and I have never felt so much relief in my life.We did it! We didn't crash it, we didn't kill each other, and now I can let other people get me from point A to point B. Now, I'm not saying I'll never drive in Europe again... just not within the next 2 decades. But hurrah, what a challenge!
Well after this lovely stress-free time we then had to gun it to Bercy station in Paris and catch our sleeper train to Rome. Those things are tiny! Luckily we had two young girls and their mother in ours because it was so squashy. I kept getting off at the sporadic stops just to get some fresh air as the air conditioning was not working very well.
One of the girls was so cute. I had to tighten my lip piercing and she was watching me then talking to her mother in French and pointing and imitating me. I caught her and she grinned; guilty! At about 2am the train stopped for a good half hour and the poor girl was getting frightened. I was awake as I was wondering what was going on too, but just tried to act like everything was normal. Kids want to feel as if everything is A-OK, so if you appear calm, they're calm. Just one rule in Nicole's parenting tips 101.
At first I hated the tiny space we were in, but then I just popped in my ipod and listened to the sounds of the sea. It works. I was off like a light in no time.
Eventually we arrived in Rome only to find our hostel doesn't exist - well it did after all but boy, was it hidden! But nevermind, we found way better accommodation from this random Italian woman at Termini station, after traipsing the area looking for something, anything! We managed to get a hotel on one of the main streets just up from the Colosseum, how 'bout that? I didn't choose the room, Kristi and Lauren did as my feet were covered in blisters from my shithouse ballet flats. So out popped the Target thongs with the hole in them and ahhh relief. I am never wearing closed-in shoes again.
We did barely anything our first night in Rome except see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince which was quite good. I'd see it again. "Platform 9 and three quarters, Fink you're funny?" Never gets old.
Okay that'll do for now. I'm currently using a computer at my Berlin hostel and the keyboard is shitting me. The z and y are in two different places, as with some of the other letters. Oh laptop, when will I see you again? I think Karaoke has started but I think I'm going to be lame and go to bed. Big day tomorrow. Sleeping in, searching for an apartment, pub crawl tomorrow night. I heard there is this club in Berlin where you have to be naked. Whaaaa? And these Americans were talking earlier about how there is so much to do here, they could easily live here a year so that's promising. Just got to get a job first. So many Brits, and they're so LOUD! Been rocking out my German. It feels very strange.
Reminder: Book Frequency Festival tickets. Radiohead are playing. Totally rad. Sarah, I think you should come too.
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