Monday 02/25ATH-CDGAfter an early morning rise for this amazing view of the early sun beaming down on The Parthenon, we went to take full advantage of our free breakfast, by emptying out their banana stash.
Here is the full view from the hotel rooftop restaurant, the peak dead ahead is Mount Lycabettus.
After talking to some hotel employees about the attractions nearby we were off, first stop was the Acropolis, of course. As means of transportation we took the €1.35 Subway
From this standpoint the view was stunning.
After descending the mountain we took a one stop metro to the
Greek Parliament, where we got to see what seemed to be an off brand changing of the guards guarding “an unknown soldier”.
We then proceeded to walk down Ermou St. which is the main shopping area in Athens, it was a great experience taking it in by foot. Eventually we made our way to the
Gostijo Kosher restaurant at
Chabad which was not opening until four, but the pricing did look solid. We bought some food at the little grocery located there as well.
περιήγηση στις αθήνες is over.
Right back to the Metro for a trip to the airport, unfortunately the final line to the airport runs on the half hour only, so that ruined 20 precious minutes from our schedule.
We had just a few moments to stop by the 2 lounges in Hall B, first the
Skyserv Melina Merkouri Lounge which was solid but quite full. Next to the
Goldair Handling Lounge which was great for some preflight beverages, the large selection of cheap alcohol made me feel right at home.
After a really slow and painful boarding process and being forced to check our bags we boarded last straight to the exit row seats. Despite not being able to move the seats on the A3 A320-200 the legroom was manageable, off to CDG!
The 3 hour flight had us cross the beautiful alps, something I seem to never stop appreciating, while the majority of the FAs were of the nicest I’ve ever encountered, there was one particular rude FA that was a PITA the whole flight.
Upon arrival we collected our bags and took the trains to the Park Hyatt for check in, unfortunately they weren’t super polite, and my mere Discoverist status didn’t help. Although they said they were giving us a city view room, once we went up it was just a terrace view. We immediately returned and the same agent told us she made a mistake when she said it was city view. When we asked if we can be changed, she lied to us that all city view rooms were sold out, moments later I checked, and of course, there were plenty available for booking. Despite this the hotel was quite nice, and a convenient location as well.
Terrace view ;(
Not wasting a moment, we were off on out
Lime Scooters to the kosher Indian restaurant
Darjeeling for some dinner.
Pictured is the traditional
“Roti” with 2 weird sauces and one amazing spicy one.
The mains
Although it was now half past 11 PM that didn’t stop us from seeing Paris at night, first stop was the
Arc de TriompheIt is nearly impossible to portray it properly in a photo as all the surrounding infrastructure are part of the landmark, but here is the actual arch.
And of course the next stop, still on our Limes, was the Eiffel Tower. After seeing the tower with its lights on, and waiting it out for the
copyrighted light show, we rode along the
Seine River where I managed to pick up some more nice shots.
And like that, just a few hours after landing in Paris, we visited the 2 bucket list items, and were done for the night. Out total expense for the Limes at this point IIRC was roughly €10, they are charged by each start up (1 EUR, 1 USD, 5 NIS etc…) plus per minute.