Europe - The Final Countdown?

On their second and final night at the hotel on Rue d'Amsterdam, no money had shown up and neither had anywhere else to stay for the following night.  Edinburgh was almost certainly on the cards now.

That night they didn't feel to even bother looking for hotels on the internet.  Instead they stayed in and checked out the following morning, leaving their bags at the hotel reception, and headed straight to an internet cafe.  No luck.

All they could think to do at this point was what they'd done before 8 years ago on their first trip around Europe... go on foot round hotels in the area and enquire.  They knew they couldn't leave this part of Paris yet.

They made an error (or was it?) straight away by going into the third hotel enquiring, getting the guy to take the rate down from 95 Euros a night to 60, and paid by credit card for 3 nights... before seeing the rooms.

They knew they couldn't stay there for 3 nights and didn't care if they had a hard time finding somewhere else.  The guy reluctantly refunded the card but that money would now not be available for 30 days while the refund was processed.  Things weren't looking good.

After they'd wandered around for a bit, everywhere far higher than they could afford, Dave suddenly felt a rise of righteous anger at what they were doing - "we shouldn't have to beg like this!  we have every right to live like kings!!".  This outburst broke the momentum, it all felt too much of an effort wandering around like this.

They recognised it was going nowhere and all they could do was return to the internet to see if anything new had shown up.  And there it was.  The one they'd been waiting on.  Just along the road from their last hotel - a great deal on a 4-star hotel for the night.  They would live like King and Queen for a night afterall.

Feeling Musique

As they stepped out to explore the area for the first time, not only did they find everything they needed close by (including a Subway!) but walking down Rue de Rome there were all these luthiers and musical instrument shops.  For the first time two elements of their long-held vision together - Europe and Music.

 Surely all this was a sign they weren't going back to Edinburgh?

Europe In Paris

On Monday 1st November 2010 they checked out the Ibis.  They were surprised to be offered another free breakfast for all the trouble from the smirking guy in the background.  Pity they'd already eaten out that morning.  Still, they took up the offer and sat and had a coffee before leaving.  They wondered why it was so busy so close to check-out time in the breakfast room.  They found out later the clocks had went back so it was 10.45 when they thought it was 11.45.

Nearby was a launderette they stopped off at.  They'd been once already but this time they chose the wrong (or right?) machine.  The water got blocked and the machine kept on spinning.  Kate asked the few people in there if anyone spoke English and a very kind French guy saved the day by offering to call the caretaker on his mobile.

While they waited a little girl in with her mum wanted to play with Kate.  They were noticing a pattern of having lots of these kind of encounters with children.

Eventually they got to leave the launderette and discovered the only metro stop they could get off at on their route to the new hotel was called Europe.  This seemed significant.

Their hotel was on Rue d'Amsterdam and they soon discovered why the metro was called Europe... all the streets in the area were named after European cities - Moscou, Liege, Naples, Berne, Vienne, Madrid, etc...

Immediately they felt much lighter in this area.  For the first time in Paris they felt they had found The Place.

It wasn't just because of the Europe connection.  They liked the buildings, could see themselves living there, and the general ambience of the place.  It felt much more relaxed than some parts and not as arty-farty or pretentious as say Montmartre.

That afternoon after they checked into their hotel they felt a strong energy shift within themselves and could only lay there on the bed unable to move for a few hours until they 'came round' again.

Paris - The First 7 Nights (part II)

With two days to go until they were due to check-out the Ibis, they were running low on money and nothing was showing up.

Kate had been trying her luck at the Spanish lotto and now the French one but no luck.  Logically, it looked like they were soon going back to Edinburgh.  But there was no room for that in the vision they saw.

Paris had ground them hard, they'd been all over the city and didn't feel an affinity with any part.  Still whenever the question of what to do next came up, it seemed they weren't to leave yet.

That night at the internet cafe up Jah came up on top and delivered them a very nicely priced hotel in the 8th district of Paris, much closer to the centre.  They got 2 nights and so they took a chance that something would show up in that time to keep alive this Europe thing.

Fawlty Towers

Their stay at the Ibis was a bit like Fawlty Towers. 

In the 7 nights they were there, they stayed in 4 different rooms.  The first one, a non-smoking room, had a stench of cigarette smoke coming through the air vents and so they asked to move.  They were moved to a room with dampness in it and asked to be moved again.  The 3rd room was fine as far as they were concerned but arriving home one night their keycard wouldn't let them in.  They went to the desk and were informed work was going to be carried out on the room in the morning and there would be no hot water (water problems again!).  By this time the hotel was almost full and there was a bit of drama and tension as the hotel staff tried to find them a suitable room to move to (2 vacant rooms were stinking of smoke again). 

The little French-Morrocan guy at reception was sweating as they sent him into a panic trying to find a suitable room.  His buddy in the background would just offer a wry smile at proceedings.  Dave & Kate were given a free breakfast the following morning for all the trouble. 

Then there was the typically French Jean-Pierre, who remained snooty and aloof whenever they dealt with him.  All these characters amused Dave & Kate and it seemed they amused, bemused, confused and caused havoc wherever they went and whoever they dealt with.  This amused them further.  The Upsetters upsetting the Babylon System without effort.

One guy working at the Ibis hotel was different.  He was a tall, slender, black man and each time he encountered Dave he would just break into a big grin and start nodding his head.  Few words were ever spoken between them but something seemed to be understood.

Paris - The First 7 Nights

As far as Dave & Kate could see, they were in Paris for 7 nights and then who knows after that... if something kept them there longer they would remain, otherwise they were certain they'd move on - or back to Edinburgh if money ran out - as they had no desire to be there any longer than necessary.

Each morning they'd be up and out of their hotel around 10 or 11am and breakfast would be a baguette to share and a pain au chocolat each, which they'd buy from a local patisserie and eat as they made the long walk into the centre of Paris.  They never knew where they were going, they would just walk and see where they ended up.  It was usually different ways of arriving somewhere along the River Seine.

These walks would last up to 10 hours a day with very few breaks.  First of all, their hotel was so far from the centre that they couldn't go back throughout the day.  Secondly, they were running out of cash and forgot how expensive Paris can be and how difficult to get cheap food. 

So during these walks, they'd stop off for a seat at various spots around the city, try the different pastries for lunch when they could afford them and then usually without fail find themselves sitting in a Subway for their main meal (it was better than McDonalds!).  They would also use Brioche Doree.  In between all of this they would try to locate internet cafes to arrange their next move after the Ibis stay was over. 

Paris seemed to be having them walking all over the city, draining them of money and wearing them out and yet the aliveness remained throughout.  They never felt hard done by and enjoyed all of it with no regrets.  They visited Montmartre, the artistic area near Sacre Coeur and were unimpressed by it.  They went by all the main tourist attractions without feeling like tourists.  At the Eiffel Tower, they sat on a bench and while all the tourists were doing what tourists do, Dave & Kate found themselves watching a rat scuttling about in the bushes behind them. 

They had been to these places before and so this time they also found themselves discovering parts of Paris the tourists don't usually see.  This all happened by default of them having to wander around to find basic essentials, not through their own will.  They were literally like leaves being blown around this city and it certainly was grinding them down.

Winter was also approaching and they still had their summer clothes with them.  Even there, life took care of it's own as it never produced really bad weather during the days while they were forced to be out all day.

Every night they would get the metro back to the hotel, usually about 10 or 11pm, or sometimes if they had a fresh burst of energy come upon them, they'd walk all the way back.

A Bus Called Suzanne

On being dropped off at Porte Maillot, Paris by the airport bus, Dave & Kate were sorting out their luggage and just as Dave looked up a coach passed right in front of him with the words 'Suzanne' emblazoned on it and three eyes.

They would encounter this same bus 4 times in total during their stay in Paris.  The next two occasions were in the heart of Paris;  once as they were walking past the Louvre at the end of an intense discussion (you could call it a satsang of sorts) and the next time as they sat in a cafe during another intense discussion, feeling a bit lost.  The discussions would end for a moment and one of them would look away in silence and there would be this bus going by.

The last time they saw it was on their final day in Paris.  Standing outside Galeries Lafayette, watching the window display and feeling a little strange on realising their time in Paris had come to an end, they turned to walk away and the bus passed on the street right in front of them (see image).

Somewhere Over The Rainbow...

Dave & Kate flew out of Barcelona around midday on Monday 25th October 2010.  The fondness they had for Barcelona remained and they knew it wouldn't be their last visit.  On arriving at Paris Beauvais airport and hopping on the bus to the city centre, as they waited on the bus to leave and wondered what Paris would have in store for them, they looked out the window and another rainbow was in the sky...

Once they'd found their bearings and got the metro to the Ibis hotel, they were welcomed by a guy hanging out his window as they walked down the street saying "bon soir!" and holding his hand out.  All credit to him for finding a new way to beg.  They would find him there with his hand out most days they went down that street.

Everything seemed ok at check-in and although being on the outskirts, in an ethnic area, was new to them, they never felt threatened.  Maybe they hadn't anticipated being such a long way from the centre - they forgot just how big Paris is.  Setting out to get something to eat that night it must have been close to a 2hr walk before they found anything.  They got the metro back at about 11pm that night.

Paris Is Calling

They felt it was the right time to commit and book a flight to Paris.  They had no reason to go there and didn't even particularly want to go, plenty of other destinations were more appealing.  Around that time Paris was hit by strikes and protests over changes to the retirement age.  There was also violence in London over student protests.

They had to cut their stay at Susanna's apartment short by 3 days as their flight to Paris was for Mon 25th Oct.  There was no reason to do any of this but all they knew was the time was right to leave Barcelona and Paris was showing itself as the next place to be.

They had a week or two to sort out accomodation and didn't anticipate it being so difficult and expensive to find an apartment in Paris.  Eventually they had little option but to book themselves into an Ibis hotel in the 19th district, just on the outer edge of Paris city centre, for 7 nights.  After that, who knows?

The intense energy of Barcelona - good in short doses - was starting to feel a bit much and remembering their previous visits to Paris, they thought it might have a cooler, more open energy that was right for them now.

Before they left Barcelona they took a walk to the Font Magica.  They had fond memories of it from their first time in Barcelona but this time arriving around 9pm and looking over the city waiting for it to begin they discovered it was broken (more water blockages?).

They found themselves walking home late that night along Carrer de Paris.

The Little Boy, The Sweet Lady & The 'Game Over' T-Shirt

Strange encounters began to happen.  One day walking through a busy street, a little boy with his mother saw Dave and headed straight for him, stopping him in his tracks with a huge smile on his face.  It was as if they were old friends.  Perhaps they were.

This would also be the start of a number of incidences where they would encounter somebody who'd leave them smiling inside.  It often seemed to happen in the middle of challenging times as if some sort of reminder to keep on.

Towards the end of their time in Barcelona as they were visiting an internet cafe each day with little luck in finding appropriate accomodation for Paris, the woman at the counter began to recognise them.  On their last visit there (she didn't know this) and feeling a bit worn out, she offered them a sweet from the packet she was eating as they paid up and left the cafe. 

The 'Game Over' t-shirt is something else.  A few weeks before they left for Barcelona, it caught Dave's attention from a tourist shop window as he and Kate were filming on the streets of Edinburgh.  It didn't seem to mean much at the time but then fast forward to Barcelona where they would continually see the same t-shirt in a variety of souvenir shops there.  What does it mean?  Maybe nothing at all?

Faul McCartney and The Terminator?

Somewhere in the middle of their time in Barcelona Faul McCartney (http://digilander.libero.it/p_truth/) made an appearance...

Or was it Fave?

The Terminator was also spotted looking a bit lost at the harbour area wandering around completely naked amongst the fully clothed tourists.  Thankfully, they never heard him say to anybody "your clothes... give them to me... now!".  (Sorry, no photo)

Barcelona

Dave & Kate spent the 3 weeks there taking long walks with no particular purpose in between time at internet cafes and shopping for groceries.  When they could they'd stop off for a coffee.  Shopping for groceries usually involved trips to several stores as they could rarely get all they wanted from one.

Sometime each afternoon they often found themselves reasoning (satsang?) with coffee and Catalonian biscuits while out on the terrace or sitting inside.  These talks were spontaneous and random, whatever needing to be said voiced out loud to clear the air and keep things fresh and moving along.  This would also happen back in Edinburgh and usually always took place around coffee and cakes or biscuits.

At nights their only form of entertainment was the radio, so in-between more reasoning sessions they would listen as songs presented themselves as signs and often explained what was going on better than they could.  When in one song the singer screamed out "Paris is calling!" they knew they were definitely on to go there next.

Water Blockages Begin...

The next day the shower stopped as Dave was under it.  No hot water due to the boiler blowing a fuse.  This brought about a week of encounters with Antonio, Susanna's friend, and The Electrician (who spoke no English).  By the end of the week they had it fully operational again but this was only the beginning of water troubles.

A few days after the boiler was fixed the toilet stopped flushing.  When Susanna heard of all their troubles - stolen laptop, broken boiler and now toilet not flushing - she could only laugh and say "it must be your turn for a run of bad karma".  Maybe.

At their next destination in Paris, they would be moved hotel rooms due to water-related issues, find themselves in another hotel where the plug for the bath was jammed bringing about an amusing encounter with the hotel staff member on duty (he had to lock the doors of the hotel as he was so busy at reception to attend to their room where he appeared and then reappeared with a knife to sort the plug) and finally in Amsterdam had a luxury bathroom with two sinks, one which was leaking water and unusable.

It also didn't go unnoticed that Barcelona, Paris, Amsterdam and Hamburg (the first 4 destinations on their journey) were all cities where water was prominent to the landscape.

10/10/10 - A Thunderstorm

After a week of constant sunshine, on the night of 10th October 2010, Barcelona threw up a thunderstorm.  As Dave & Kate lay in bed that night they couldn't determine whether the storm was coming from inside or outside themselves.

Each rumble of thunder was felt as a 'pop' inside their stomachs and each flash of lightning seemed to be going off simultaneously inside their brains.  The realisation that the Fatherland Europa was welcoming and integrating them into the landscape came.