What does a student do shortly before his or her exams, where he or she sits in the State Library almost every day until it closes? Right, book his holiday! A destination was quickly found, as the range of offers in February is quite manageable within Europe and the budget is not exactly high. A trip to Efteling before the opening of the Baron 1898 is also not worthwhile. If you look at the prices on the German website of Disneyland Resort Paris the budget would be used up after just one day, but there are also much reduced packages on the other websites, like on the French one. Travelling alone is not exactly cheap either, which is why I quickly asked Dominik one evening before the booking deadline. Even more spontaneously, Julian joined us around noon the following day, but we couldn’t persuade Jan to join us, as an exam unfortunately prevented this.

Lucky coincidences then made me book a flight with Air France, otherwise the return flight with Germanwings – which were of course more expensive – would have been much more adventurous. For price reasons, however, I had to postpone my arrival by one day, so that I had an extra day in Paris. I used this day to visit the Theatre Mogador near the Galeries Lafayette, where I watched the musical Bal des Vampires (Tanz der Vampire in French).

Since the musical was not to start until the evening and my hotel room was not to be ready until the afternoon, I took a little tour of the Parisian sights. I started at the cathedral Notre-Dame, where under the watchful eyes of the French military someone actually tried to steal my backpack, which was packed to the brim – the lady wouldn’t have got far with the 12kg without being shot, but it was worth a try. I continued along the river Saine for some kilometres. Passing the Place de la Concorde and the Grand Palais I went a little bit over the Champs-Élysées to see the Arc de Triomphe from inside. The ascent to the museum level of the Arc de Triomphe is just as interesting as the view from the viewing platform to the large avenues. From my point of view, this is the most beautiful and also the widest view of Paris. Simply marvellous!

In a good mood I went to the hotel. Slightly hungry I quickly headed to a Subway where I ordered the Sub du Jour. Since the prices are similar to those in Germany, the sandwich makers are a clear recommendation for a visit to Paris, at least if you have to watch your budget. Well strengthened I went on to the theatre. Although I was a bit afraid not to understand everything, I was blown away by the show. All the actors were simply brilliant and Stéphane Métro is my Count von Krolock.

The next morning, after a slight delay of the ICE train, I met Dominik and Julian at the Gare de l’Est. With them we went over to the Gare du Nord, where we took the RER to Marne-la-Vallée Chessy.

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