Paris 2025

Tourists – Zio, Pedro, G, Ali, Fred, KB, Caz and Joppa

After the 2023 trip to Paris via Brussels, the 2025 tourists decided to do the same! This time Passport Control in Amsterdam was much quicker than previously, however this was offset by their being rail works and instead of a direct train to Brussels, we had an additional pit-stop in Rotterdam!

After arriving at the hotel, we visited some traditional Brussels bars including Le Corbeau, La Lunette, À la Becasse and Le Coq, I think we all agreed that some interesting beers were drunk.

The next day involved a relatively short train journey, time-wise, to Paris where we were met by a snow and hail. A swift walk to the Ville de Provins café where some liquid refreshment was taken, an even quicker change into our night attire then back into the bar for an excellent meal including coq au vin. We even managed to get Zio to reprise his version of Alouette both for the group and an additional group of Italians working for the Orient Express! Later on, that evening we moved into the Oberkampf area where a sufficiency of drink was consumed until the early hours!

Due to the previous night’s excesses, the plan for Saturday did take a hit, however we did manage to visit both the Place Mange and Place d’Italie to watch the earlier games before venturing out to the Stade de France here as usual we were both well beaten and frozen!

Sunday almost followed tradition, however we did visit Notre Dame before arriving at Montparnasse, where we found and interesting bar, Le Falstaff, were the footballers watch various games while the tourists visited the Tour Montparnasse swiftly followed by the Café Montparnasse, an apparent haunt of Ernest Hemingway.

The group then reconvened in Le Falstaff to enjoy arguably the biggest meal many of us had ever eaten and at a reasonable price. The rest of the night was spent in the cheaper bars of the Rue Faubourg St Denis.