Europe Day 39: Hotel Rules

Today is the day we drove from Annemasse, France to Avignon, France.  The drive was fairly uneventful; just many hours on the bus reading The Other Boleyn Girl.

When we arrived I was starving.  Soon after settling in, a group of us left to find a grocery store. I got some lunch before returning to the hotel.  I was absolutely determined to finish the book today.  It is a book about power hungry people going to great lengths to get what they want.  It was making me cranky and I just wanted to be finished with it.  So I did.

By the time dinner rolled around, and I had finished the book, most of the class was out on a walking tour of the city.  I was hungry, so instead of waiting for everyone to return, I walked back towards the main road to get dinner.  I tried to resist, I really did.  But it was my first night in the city, I did not recognize any of the names of the other restaurants.  I felt myself irresistably pulled into McDonalds.  I got a hamburger, fries, and a coke for five euro-an excellent deal. 

I sat in a park by a church and enjoyed my food. Before I had quite finished the french fries, a tan man wearing a green polo told me that the park closed in two minutes, so I needed to leave as soon as I finished.  The white embrodery on his shirt told me he was the guardian of the garden.  I giggled a little behind his back before returning to the hotel.

Casey, Josh, Kayla, Ashely and I have been watching a show called Big Bang Theory in the evenings before we go to bed.  We had planned to meet to watch an episode in Casey's room at 9:45.  All of their rooms are next to each other, while I am on the other side of the hotel.  A little after 9:30 I left to watch TV with them.  As I crossed the center of the hotel, where there is a stair case and small lounge, an official looking man stopped me and asked which room was mine.  He worked for the hotel, so I pointed to the hallway behind me.  Then he informs me that after half past nine, guests are not allowed to go to other rooms.  They must stay in their room or leave the hotel.  Not being one to argue with the rules, I turned around and left. 

A few minutes later, Kayla pops up at my door and asks me to come.  I quickly share with her my predicament.  The man, apparently, was not there when she came to get me, so I quickly logged off facebook and followed her out the door in a covert attempt to watch TV.  The man had returned!  I didn't even leave my hallway and dashed back in my room, before he could tell me the rule I knew I was going to break.  The last thing I saw was Kayla striding down the hallway and the man following her.  After that, I decided I was defeated and settled in for the night.  Fortunately, I still had Ashely's dvd case and was able to watch Pride and Prejudice before I went to bed.  Not quite the night I was hoping for, but with the hotel would not allow me to do others.  Amazing the contrast between America and France.  I sincerly doubt a hotel like this with rules like that would be able to stay open for long!