Paris July 7, 2011

Last evening was not pleasant in the Strasbourg Youth Hostel on the Rhine. The hostel is in a beautiful location, and the evening started pleasantly enough. I was sitting outside at a table where I could watch the boats go up and down the Rhine through an opening in the trees when a Swiss gentleman asked me if he could join me. It turns out that he is a 78-year-old cyclist who was on his way on his touring bike from his home in Switzerland to Rotterdam. Apparently he tours all around Europe on his bike, staying at youth hostels. He also did the Camino de Santiago, but not on foot but rather on his bike starting again from his home in Switzerland. He and I chatted and drank beer for about an hour.

I went to bed at a decent hour, but all of us in the room were awakened around midnight by very loud music coming from the bar downstairs. The bass notes were deafening. Yes, in Europe, youth hostels have bars and sell booze to kids (there was also a condom dispenser in the hostel's men's room).

I was the only one willing to try to get the music turned down. First I went into the bar and got the brush off from the bartenders.It was hard communicating in French above music at an ear-splitting level, but I did understand enough to know that they weren't turning down the music.

The next attempt was the font desk manager, who phoned the bar and ordered the music lowered "un petit peu." I went back to the room, but the music stayed as load as before. I went back to the front desk, and this time the guy at the desk, who seemed to be in charge of that shift of employees went back to the bar in person, and that did the trick. I went back to a quiet room, and all of us went back to sleep.

Today I took the high-speed train, the "Train de Grande Vitesse (literally the train of great speed) or TGV from Strasbourg to Paris, a journey that took five hours the last time I made it, but now with the TGV in and rolling along at up to 150 miles per hour, the trip takes two hours and fifteen minutes. The TGV is very fast but not very comfortable. It bumps and rolls, in second class  you are cramped, and there is not enough room for the passengers' baggage. They cram as many people into that train as possible. However, getting there fast is sometimes worth a bit of discomfort.

It's cloudy and cool in Paris, and there was even a brief rain shower. I am not complaining, however. My sister E-mailed me that Phoenix was hit by a tremendous dust storm.

By the way, I'll be here three nights. Five days from now, I should be on the trail heading toward Santiago de Campostela.