Day 144: The last evening in Paris

I never wrote about the last evening in Paris. After staying with the nudist Couchsurfer I had an offer from a sitar player in Jaipur, who really wanted me to stay with his family. Which was of course a very nice offer, and I've heard Jaipur is lovely. But it's also quite far from the Eiffel tower.

So instead I stayed a night with Airbnb superhost Sylvie for about 60 Euros, in the 11th arrondisement (it that means anything to you, I'm clueless about these Paris neighbourhoods). It was a very nice room - and clean, which I appreciated after the night before - in a very nice apartment. And a clean bathroom, shared with her teenage son. Good wifi. Nice host. Basically everything you can wish for.

Sylvie had started renting out her daughters room in July and I started in August, so she was happy to meet a fellow superhost and we talked a little bit about it. I'll definitely consider staying there again when in Paris next time.

But after I had booked I got a new offer from a Couchsurfer, Mathieu. Reading his profile it seemed we could have a nice conversation so I suggested we could perhaps meet up for a drink even if I had somewhere to sleep. I didn't have any plans for the evening anyway.

So we did, we had a beer and talked for an hour or so. What I find interesting - always - is when you meet people and instantly have an interesting conversation about things that are important to you. He had been a banker and decided to become an actor. We talked about what it means to open yourself up and how you need to to that as an actor and he gave me some tips about how to work on this. It was interesting and I really appreciate some stranger sharing this with me in such a short time and keeping me company for an hour in Paris.

Perhaps there really is some Couchsurfing spirit. And perhaps you shouldn't judge it from just one experience...