Auberge Internationale des Jeunes
“You can eat at little bakeries. And live in youth hostels. It is manageable”, I remember someone saying. He’d spent three weeks through Europe earlier in the year.
I’d been living in Amsterdam since three weeks. And though I’d been exploring Holland, I’d not ventured out of The Netherlands till then. The return ticket from Amsterdam to Paris cost me € 77 – Eurolines run daily bus services between the two cities. And I booked a youth hostel for the three nights, Auberge Internationale des Jeunes € 19 a night (shared by two others). It included breakfast.
The bus left Amstel Station, Amsterdam at 22:00 hrs and reached Gallieni, Paris at 06:30 hrs. In fact, I didn’t realise that we’d reached when we’d reached. I thought it was another one of those ten-minute stops. I reached Ledru-Rollin by metro from Gallieni and did the three-minute walk to Auberge Internationale des Jeunes. The guy at the reception checked my booking and passport, “The room is occupied right now. And we remain shut between 11 o’clock and 4 o’clock for cleaning! You can check-in after 4 o’clock!”
“What? I need to shower!”
“It’s occupied! No shower till 4 o’clock!”
“What about my baggage?”
“You can leave it at the baggage room! And keep the receipts with you. You must show this every time you come in. Else no check-in!”
The baggage room is their dingy basement. There are metallic racks where people had left their bags. I did the same.
Breakfast consist of loafs of French bread that needed the strength of a wolf to rip apart. The jam and butter was on the table. And I had a choice of coffee/tea/hot chocolate etc.
I got back early that evening (by 18:00 hrs). Kept my valuables etc. in the safe-deposit locker. It was a long climb up to my room on the fourth floor. I showered. And slept. And incidentally, I had the room to myself!
The showers are common to the floor. And have neither hooks for clothes/towels etc. nor shelves for soaps/shampoo.
The next morning, the same rock-hard loafs of bread, jam and butter and hot chocolate.
I got back around 22:00 hrs.
“Sorry! The safe-deposit lockers are not available after 20:00 hrs!”
“That sucks! What about my valubles?”
“Sorry! No locker!”
I didn’t make it back in time for safe-deposit lockers since.
A dude came into the room whilst I was in my sleep. He curled into the bed a meter away. He was gone before I’d woken up i.e. around 07:00 hrs.
And on the last night, a dude was fast asleep whilst I walked in. Another crept in whilst I was asleep. And by the time I’d woken up, the first dude was long gone.
At least the rooms and toilets were clean.
FIN
Hey..but did you have a good time in Paris? Cant wait to see those photos and hear about it!
I had a good time
[...] had drizzled that morning and the streets were wet. I had been denied access to the showers of the youth hostel I’d booked until later in the day. In fact, until 16:00 hrs. A metro from Ledru Rollin till [...]