...And Then I Found 5 Euro

The first night, someone had decided they would rather sleep in my bed, and upon contacting the "management", they told me just to pick another bed. I had a relatively difficult time sleeping because others in my dorm-style room were doing some sort of drugs I decided not to partake in. The breakfast was like any other hostel I had been to: bread, butter, jam, orange juice, milk, cold cereal, etc., with one exception: a glorious hard-boiled egg. It was culinary bliss to me at that point.

And of course, the company was entertaining, to say the least. Another peculiarity of the hostel was that the showers were in a high-traffic hallway. This does not bode well for most residents, as they are tripping out of their minds and get confused easily anyway. I remember sporting my towel and walking past a few langouring on a couch next to the showers--which, I might add, had no adjoining changing room. That was fun. There were a lot of good parts to the place, though. The happy room always afforded an opportunity to gawk at people, the drinks were relatively cheap, and it was in a great location in the city. Overall, it was a very fun and eye-opening experience.

Every morning, except Sunday, there would be a fresh food and flower market, so that took care of breakfast and snacks. As if that couldn't be topped, it was by this amazing panini shop in one of the corners of the plaza. I honestly had the best sandwich of my life there. Actually, not one, as I had too many to count, and at times, I was not entirely sober when I ate, so obviously a definite number would be impossible to list. At any rate, you could put whatever you wanted onto these sandwiches. I think what made this even better was the fact that all of the ingredients were in Italian, so that just made it all the more adventurous for me. You could get sun-dried tomatoes, eggplant, ham, and other really random ingredients. It was amazing and decently priced.

Other places of interest in the Campo were the bars. Sloppy Sam's and The Drunken Ship were great, great if you like running into other Americans (which, at that point, I was) and getting embarrassingly wasted and giving other Americans even more reason to call themselves Canadian when abroad. The restaurants there were okay, the gelatto stands were amazing as always, and the plaza is just minutes from lots of the major attractions. It is a noteworthy place by all accounts. The hotel, not so much, but hey, it sufficed.

The accommodations were clean, and, overall, I was impressed. Bathrooms were communal, and the breakfast consisted of the normal bread and spread fare. The staff was friendly and helpful, credit cards were accepted, and linens were included.

They had couches, soda machines, and a TV in the main room. They also had laundry facilities and a room with a few computers hooked up to the Internet.

I think the most fun part was the rooms we stayed in. We opted for the more communal and cheaper setting, where you walk in and on both sides are these lofts. Sixteen in total, they were these private spaces that had a bed, cubbyhole, and a fabric partition. One was stacked on top of another. It was sparse but sufficient, and I had to climb up a ladder to get to mine since mine was one of the ones on top, but I didn't mind too much. I like the hostel a lot, and you couldn't beat the location.

The Espace Createurs features creations from up-and-coming Parisian designers. The clothing is eccentric, inventive, original, and expensive: everything it should be. Nowhere else will you find this stuff, and everything is way ahead of the current trends. And it's not just one store, but individual designers have their own space, and these stores practically fill the fourth floor (I believe, but don't quote me on it.) At the very least, pick up a belt or hat from them. It's all tre blanche.