Paris
From Ios we returned to Athens on what we Chris and I foolishly assumed would be the last ferry trip on the trip, or
at least the last involving the ancient Greek concept of organisation and punctuality, and sadly had to say our
farewells to our new friends. We had originally planned on having a few quiet drinks on our hotel rooftop with just
our small clique, but pretty soon the rest of our tour thought we had the right idea and joined us. Although it was
great having a final night with the group it did get a bit awkward trying to say goodbye to some 70 people whom we
could barely remember if we’d spoken to, let alone their names, but we managed and responsibly sent ourselves to
bed before midnight in anticipation of our early flight to the city of love the next day.
I hadn’t had that high an expectation for Paris before we got there; I kind of assumed that all we would do would be
go see the main touristy points, and that that was more or less all there was to do there. Obviously it wasn’t, and I
can’t wait to go back. Even though Greece was a completely new country with its own language and everything,
arriving in France and discovering an entirely new culture was still an amazing feeling. It seemed too weird walking
around a city that was so close to a place like England yet spoke an entirely new language.
While we were there we stayed in Montmartre, which was a really cool area filled with people our age and plenty of
things to do. Just up the road from us was the Sacre Coeur Church which was amazing, and we were only a short
tube ride from all the other main attractions. Although we did go out to everything (Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower,
Louvre Notre Dame etc.), we knew we would be coming back on our Tour in a week or so anyway so weren’t too
fussed about doing any of the extras involved with each place (climbing the tower, going inside the Louvre and so
on). This meant that we had plenty of time to try some other things we knew we probably wouldn’t get a chance to
do on our tour, including taking a boat ride up and down the Sienne, spending a day walking around the markets and
shops at Montmartre, and most importantly spending a day at Disneyland Paris.
It might sound weird having just gone on about how I loved the city, but I would have to say that the highlight for
Paris for me, and I'm sure Chris would agree, would be a little coffee shop we found a few hundred metres from our
hostel on the way to Sacre Coeur. We ducked in planning on trying crepes for the first time in Paris, and decided to
each get a coffee as well. What we were given could only be described as the greatest cappuccino in the world, and
from that day on we did not go anywhere in Paris until we had been to this café. It actually got to the point where by
about the third day and 20th or 21st coffee the guys working there began to recognise us and wouldn’t take our order
at all, they would just come over with two cappuccinos and ask if we wanted food. It was amazing.
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