Je T'aime Peintre

Chapter Five - In Paris

When the Eurostar arrived at Paris Nord station, it was again packed with tourists, working adults, old folks and mothers with children. Exactly like the train station in London. Before this trip, I heard a lot of scary stories about the professional pickpockets in subway stations and tourist attractions, and at that instance, everyone looked suspicious to me. Due to this, we bought ourselves traveler waist pouch to secure our valuables such as cash, credit cards and passports to our bodies. But still, we were very careful with our backpacks because we had our cameras inside.

There were a lot of rush in Paris Nord, and we finally arrived at the information counter after twenty minutes. The staff at the counter directed us to a corner near the entrance of the station, to check for Bed&Breakfast accommodation in Paris. When we thought London was expensive, this was worst! We ran through the list slowly and spotted an affordable room, but it was quite small and far from the metro station. Since the price was very reasonable, we rang the number on the board but unfortunately the room was taken up few hours ago. So we had to continue with the search.... As we continued to browse, we saw a small notice at the bottom of the board. The photographs looked pretty good and it was a room in the attic and Bob called to enquire. The owner told us that it was still available and offered to pick us up from the station. We were grateful because the crowded station made us feel insecure, and we needed a local to help us move around, at least on our first day here.

The owner, Jean, arrived at the station after forty minutes. He was a typical French looking man in his forties, slim and tall. He was very well dressed and looked as suave as a model. As we all know, the French were filled with warmth. When he met us, he gave us warm hugs and peck on the cheeks. We thanked him for picking us up and he said it was common that he did that because new tourists in Paris needed guidance in this complicated city, especially if one could not speak French. Moreover, he was on his way back to his house. He mentioned he loved meeting people from all over the world and renting his spare room in the attic was a great chance to make friends. As we were chatting and walking, we saw his car, a BMW 6 series.

On the way to the house, Jean gave us a quick introduction about the Paris city in the car and the popular attractions nearby his apartment. We could reach some of them by walk he said. He also warned us of the pickpockets like everyone did, and gave us tips to spend our expenses wisely, such as visiting the church for free on a Sunday or going to the museums in the late afternoons at a discounted price. Soon, the car came to a stop, in front of a street filled with French Colony houses, so beautiful and quiet. His house had three stories and obviously our room was at the top, at the attic.

Jean was greeted by his golden retriever at the gate. It was a huge dog and was wagging its tail happily as we approached. It had the most beautiful light brown colored furs and we were told that it was a stray dog that Jean found on one hot afternoon during the summer, across the street opposite of his house. That was a very humid day and Jean saw it digging hungrily for food in a bag of rubbish on the ground, which Jean presumed it dragged from somewhere because this was a clean neighborhood that was properly maintained daily. Since that day on, Jean and his wife, who did not have any children, treated it like a family of their own.

As we reached the door, Jean unlocked it and instantly, we saw a charming lady with an apron walking towards us and the house smelled of delicious food. Jean held her close and kissed her, then introduced us to his lovely wife and her name was Sonia.

Sonia was very friendly and greeted us with warm hugs too. We introduced ourselves and as we looked tired, she led us to our room in the attic so that we could get changed and rest. As we headed to the top of the house, we passed their bedroom in the second floor, and we were glad that their house was very tidy and beautifully furnished with class. At this point, I felt hopeful that our room will be gorgeous. Indeed, when we reached the room in the attic, it was so beautifully decorated with style. They even had a television in one cozy corner, with a lovely couple couch in bright red color. At the other corner was a French carving bedframe with some comfortable looking sheets, where I supposed we would spend lovely moments on. Despite it being a little small but it had everything we needed for a short stay. We were excited for what we would experience in Paris for the next couple of days.