The door opened with a loud swoosh and through semi-closed eyes I watched a young man talking to himself. He sat across from me. His conversation seemed to be in Spanish and he appeared to be agitated. He had tangled dreadlocks, his shoe strings were untied, and he did not look clean. I could stay and travel with the stranger, who might be a murderer or a rapist, or I could get off the train. I looked out the window and saw a large M O T E L sign flashing in the distance. I grabbed my back pack and got off the train. (In Europe with a rail pass you can get on and off trains at your will!)
It was one-twenty in the morning as I entered the motel and asked for a room. The French clerk could not understand or pretended not to understand what I was saying. I tried Spanish and sign language and when he answered I could not understand him either. Just then, a man and a woman entered. The man had a small monkey on his shoulder. They seemed to also be asking for a room. After several exchanges between the clerk and the couple, I spoke in English. "I need a room for the night and the clerk does not speak English. Do you?"
With a heavy accent he said he did. He moved closer to me and said, "There is no room here but if we walk about six blocks there is a hotel that does have rooms available." At this point the monkey decided to jump on my shoulder and his tiny hands grabbed my hair. I screamed and the man, the woman and the clerk all began talking at once, reaching toward me to try and get the monkey off my back while the monkey jumped up and down! "He likes you," the man said as he placed the monkey back on his shoulder.
We walked down a cobbled stone street called the Ruede la Republique until we came to the Hotel Regina. The interior was dark with just a few lights. I was charged $100 and was told my room was 418. The clerk pointed me in the right direction with an apologetic, "No elevator." I climbed the steps to the fourth floor and saw room 415, 416, 417, 419, and 420. Twice I looked and could not find 418. I walked back down all the steps and back to the registration desk. "There is no Room 418."
He said, "Go up stairs....more stairs....go up." I returned to the fourth floor and found a narrow stairway. It was so narrow I had to go up sideways. I kept wondering if I had done the right thing.
Maybe I should have stayed on the train. On what appeared to be an attic I saw a lone door marked 418. I opened the door to find myself in a plain room with a small dresser and a full-size bed. The sparkling crystal chandelier over the bed seemed out of place in the ordinary room. The bathroom surprised me with its beautiful blue, green, yellow and red paisley tile.
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| My room is on top floor! |
Not knowing how safe the hotel was, I shoved the bed in front of the door. If anyone tried getting in they would have to shove me and the bed out of the way. I crawled into bed and heard musical cooing. I got up and opened the grey wooden shutter and watched hundreds of grey and white pigeons flutter way. The scene before me amazed me as I looked at a stone
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| Gigantic Statue |
Avignon, I found out, used to be the summer home of the Popes. For a time there was fighting as to where the Papacy would be....Rome or Avignon. Rome won. The striking town is surrounded by massive defensive walls, 17 inches thick, called ramparts. There is a golden statue on top of the Notre Dame des Doms Cathedral. Outside the walls is the Rhone river and to get to Paris it is about 350 miles. I fell in love with the quaint town. I purchased water in a bottle, roamed through museums, looked at wares being sold in street kiosks, and enjoyed one whole day of sight seeing. Outside the walls I walked along the river after crossing a busy street. Cars do not respect pedestrians! I picked up tips about Avignon by listening to a tour guide explaining the city to a group of American tourists.
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Papal Palace
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| Defensive wall goes all the way around Avignon |
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| Theater and Museum |
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| The Invisible Man |
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