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Monday 14 April 2008 We emerged from the depths of the English Channel to be greeted by sunshine! The bus drove through green fields and then into Paris Coach Station from where we caught a couple of Metro Rides to Crimee in the outer suburbs of Paris where we found St Christopher's Inn.
St Christopher's Inn was one of the newest hostels we have stayed in. The rooms and facilities were clean and new, our only complaint was that there was no kitchen. It also had groovy toilets! After settling in we decided to make the most of our short time in the city by spending the evening visiting the Eiffel Tower.
We caught the metro to the appropriate stop and when we emerged from underground we couldn't find any signage to help us. Clever Michael looked up - then we knew where to go.
The queues were soooooo looooong! The entire visit took 3.5 hours because of the queues. We stood admiring to Tower while we waited and watched in amusement at the crowds - we even saw an oh-so-romantic proposal underneath.
When we finally got to the top, the view was definitely worth the
wait. We had made it just in time for sunset. WOW!!! We we so lucky to see the dazzling view by daylight, sunset and by night.
Stumbling back to the hostel exhausted, we grabbed some yummy kebabs for dinner and then crashed.
Tuesday 15 April 2008 After a wholesome breakfast at the hostel we joined a New Europe free city tour starting at Place St-Michel. We strolled along the very flooded Seine, Notre Dame Cathedral - of the hunchback fame, the French Institute from where the French language is regulated, the Louvre, the exclusive shopping of Rue Saint Honore, the lovely Jardin des Tuileries, another fake Egyptian obilesk, and up the ritzy Avenue des Champs-Elysees. We learned a lot about Parisian history including is crazy monarchs.
After the tour concluded we continued our Parisian tourism marathon by climbing the Arc de Triomphe and watching the crazy driving below - that which no insurance company will cover. The we raced back to the hostel to collect warm coats for the evening before heading out for our second free tour of the day.
This second tour took us up to the historic hilltop district of Montmartre. We
started outside the famous Moulin Rouge were we witnessed some rowdy customers being arrested, searched for space invaders (see www.space-invaders.com), visited Paris' only vineyard, La Basilique du Sacré Coeur, the houses of Van Gogh & Picasso, Amilie's favourite shop here she played with the beans, and stole a smooch at the wall of love.
Barbara was exhausted after or touring marathon and returned to the hostel while Michael enjoyed a wild night out on the town with his friend Yook.
Wednesday 16 April 2008 It was a late start due to a noisy disrupted night with drunk people trying to enter the hostel after hours without keys. They didn't get very far.
We met Yook at his BNP office for coffee which woke us up nicely.
When Yook went back to work we walked to Notre Dame and saw the cathedral from the inside - quite spectacular! We then continued on back to the Louvre where we sent many hours admiring not only the great masterpieces on display but also the building itself.
Thursday 17 April 2008 Unfortunately our short time in the city of love was over so we made our way
to the airport and we were to be off to Berlin...
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