The Stills Day 8, Istanbul to Paris

We started the day relatively early so we could squeeze in as much as possible before going to the airport to head back to Paris. We were given a tour guide to make things a bit easier, which was nice.

 

The first place we went was the Blue Mosque, which was a pretty impressive display of architecture and detail. We then wanted to go to the Hagia Sophia, only to find out that it’s closed on Mondays, so we went straight to the Grand Bazaar.

 

The Bazaar was not at all what we expected, and not in the best way. We were hoping for rows of shops with bags of crap spilling out into the hallways with a bunch of Turks yelling at each other. What we got was essentially a strip mall with lots of trinkets that looked pretty cheap and nasty. It was still an interesting experience to have though; at least we went…

 

And that was our last outing in Istanbul. We then had to head for the hotel for our ride to the airport which kind of felt disappointing because we now knew there was no way Paris could be remotely interesting after our time in Istanbul. The people were great, the sights were incredible, food was good, unbelievable experiences… So, with that, we left regretfully…

 

We landed in Paris a little ahead of schedule and made our way to the hotel. We didn’t know where we were exactly, but it became apparent pretty quickly. Directly across the street are the Champs √âlys√©es. A 5 minute walk to the left and you have the Louvre, to the right there’s a thing called the Eiffel Tower, all of which are quite visible from our hotel room. So, at least I’ll have things to do, but it’s just not the same here after Istanbul…