Advertisement
Published: October 2nd 2012
Edit Blog Post
PARIS, FRANCE - (September 2007)
- (Sunday 23rd to Wednesday 26th September 2007) - Sun 23rd Sept - (Berlin to Paris) I left the guys in the apartment early Sunday evening. They were flying back to Manchester the following day while I was getting the bus to Paris later that evening.
The bus left Berlin quite late so I had most of Sunday with them. I said my farewells and arranged to catch up with them as soon as I got back to England. I made my way to the bus station via the U-Bahn getting there in plenty of time. As had been the case on all the bus journeys I had caught from Tallinn through to Berlin, the bus was full of all sorts of people and nationalities, mostly young, students, travellers heading off to some city. As with the bus to Berlin, the bus journey to Paris was overnight and I tried to get some sleep and as a consequence I can’t really remember anything about the journey.
Mon 24th - Wed 26th Sept - (Paris) The bus arrived in Paris Monday morning just after rush hour. I’d never been to Paris before
and was looking forward to it although as this was the last stop on my trip, it was with a feeling of excitement mixed with uncertainty over my feelings concerning the fact that I would soon be back in England.
When I got off the bus, I quickly got myself acquainted with the metro system and bought a ticket to the metro stop, Montmartre, which was the nearest stop to the hotel/ hostel where I’d booked a room for the next couple of nights. The hostel was a bit run down but it was clean enough for a short stay, it had a bar, and was relatively convenient and not expensive.
The hostel was one of those hostels that closed during the day so I really wanted to get there and drop my bags off before it closed for the day. Fortunately I did, but I couldn’t check in until later that afternoon. So once I’d dropped my bags off, I went to find something to eat. There were a few nice cafe bars near the hostel which did the trick. I tried to order in French but they must have been used to tourists as the waiter
just repeated everything back to me in English!
There’s not a lot to say about my stay in Paris. I did the usual touristy things for a couple of days but I suppose I was getting a bit tired of sightseeing and I had the feeling in the gut of my stomach that the end of the journey was nearly upon me. I’m not sure whether I felt sad about this or whether I was just tired and fed up of sightseeing and just ready to go home.
However, the feeling I did have was not to the same degree as I had felt when I was in New York at the end of my one year trip around the world some 10 years earlier. In New York, I really had, had had enough and wanted to get home and as I result I hadn’t enjoyed New York!
However, on this occasion I enjoyed my visit to Paris despite the fact I was slightly jaded of sightseeing. As I usually do, I tried to walk as much as I could and avoid the metro wherever possible for the fact that you see more ‘on the ground’ than
‘under the ground’. I mainly just saw things from the outside as I couldn’t be bothered going inside things like the Louvre where you had to queue up for hours. (In any event I will no doubt be back in Paris when I will get the opportunity to visit such places when I’m not as tired of sightseeing).
During my stay I went on a 4 hour free walking tour run
‘for the budget-orientated traveler by budget-orientated travellers’ which was a really good way of seeing things while at the same time getting a bit of an explanation of what you were seeing. I walked up the Eiffel Tower as once again I couldn’t be bothered to queue up for the lifts - which in the end was probably the better way of doing it in any event. The views of Paris from the top were fabulous!
I enjoyed wondering around the area close to the hostel, Montmartre, and Montmartre itself was fantastic and as with the views from the top of the Eiffel Tower, the views of Paris from the hill upon which Montmartre sit were really good. And I walked to the Champs Elysees but I
must say that I was completely underwhelmed by it although I must admit that I only saw it from the other side of the ‘motorway’ that runs around it. This said though, I’m sure it is more impressive than it’s replica that I saw in Vientiane, Laos, all those months ago - although at the time, it didn’t particularly seem so!
There's not particularly much more to say about my time in Paris. I enjoyed the visit but it was only for a couple of days and I was at this stage now thinking more about getting home than really taking in the experience and ambience of the city!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.099s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 7; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0568s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb