Today was our last day in Paris. Oh c'est la vie, I will return mon amie. We started the morning with our "fast food" at the patisserie across the street from the apartment. Ordering "un pain aux chocolat et un apple pastry thing that was le divine.". With our fresh pastries in hand, we headed to the metro, and went over to the Pantheon.
Once we arrived at the metro stop (which was a few blocks from the Pantheon), we walked through the little streets, passing locals and hearing their morning conversations which I could understand about .5% of. And then BAM! There it was the Pantheon. Stunning building actually. I mean it wasn't breath taking, it was just less of a "typical" Parisian building. Once inside (which the ticket holders kept saying to me "Madamoseille! Over here! Yes over here!!" I ignored them and played the dumb American girl and just looked confused. We were looking for audio guides and thus we were waiting in line......). It was a pretty interesting building, lots of sculptures and a giant penjulum clock in the middle of the room. Wandered for a bit, took photos, wandered some more, took photos, wandered some more, took more photos and then we went down to the crypt. Side note--I didn't realize that over the whole entire trip, how eerie of a person I am since my favorite things we saw were crypts and bones and mummys. We saw Marie Curie's tomb, Voltaire's tomb and other well known figures.
Then we left the Pantheon.
Wandered the streets some more, taking random turns here and there. That was definitely my favorite part of our time in Paris-Wandering. Just with my sister and I. Sometimes pastries in hand and sometimes not.
Next up after the Pantheon was Sacre Coeur. We knew from many people lecturing us and putting it in our heads that we should NOT head to Sacre Coeur in the middle of the day, but here it was, middle of the day, and we were on our way. When we reached Sacre Coeur, we had no idea where to go. But me being brilliant and all, told my sister to follow the woman with the Rick Steves book. And look at that! We found Sacre Coeur. We climbed the stairs to the church, went inside for some meditation and prayer, and came out of the church to see the beautiful skyline of Paris (except Paris doesn't really have a skyline, it's more of a flatline with smog...still pretty though :)). Then, instead of heading back, we went over to the right of the building and followed some people into a small little area in Montmartre. Annie bought gelato, I bought 2 crepes from the street vendor. 1 was nutella, the other was Lemon and powdered sugar. We took our treats and sat on the curb, listening to a woman play the accordian. It was tres bon! And the crepes were delicious!
Then it was off the beaten path we went, (actually it was just down the road, but beaten path sounded cooler so, shhhhh.) and the sites of Paris were even more beautiful from this point. We just wandered around, smiling like goons and then headed back to the metro.
On the way home we bought some postcards with the intention to send them to our friends and family....ya emphasis on the 'intention' bit. We never sent them. Sorry.
After Sacre Coeur we had no pressing plans, except that we needed to get back to the apt before our hosts left for the evening. We made it back in time, got a key from them, and decided we needed to get pastries for the train ride to London the next day since we were getting up at a non human hour to leave. We went our local patissierie and ordered the entire shops worth of yumminess. Well like 6 different pastries. Bahaha. Too funny. After that embarassing order, we went back to the apt, dropped off the goods, and then me and Annie headed to the Champs Elysee to enjoy our last night in Paris.
We walked around more then we intended to (we got off the metro at Palace de Concord) and passed a lot of glamourous parties that were happening. IT WAS SO PARISIENNE I ALMOST DIED OF HAPPINESS!!!
Then we walked towards the Eiffel Tower, arm in arm talking about how amazing the trip has been, how lucky we are to be here, and just sister stuff that I cannot tell you because you are not my sister...except Laura, if you are reading this I will tell you later :). And then I got stopped by a french man, who thought I was a parisienne girl, and he asked me in french if I knew where some street was. I did not and I quickly walked away after struggling in english to say I am not from here. Apparently he was really attractive (according to annie) I can not confirm this though because I was looking at my feet.
......Me and Annie walked along the seine all the way to the Eiffel Tower, which was stunning all lit up like an iron christmas tree. Took 500 photos, and then ate our dinner under the eiffel. Sat under it while it sparkled, kissed it goodbye, and headed towards the Arch de Triomphe for our final goodbye in Paris.
WALKED FOR 67 YEARS and made it to the lovely Arch. We actually walked up the entire Champs, which is why I said 67 years because my feet almost fell off. We make it to the ticket man and he goes "C'est Fini!"....uh what. "C'est fini!! Non non non!" OH! It's closed!??! WHAT! NO! The one thing I wanted to do the WHOLE time in Paris and it's CLOSED! Oh man. No. Yep. Friends, it was closed. We did not climb the Eiffel Tower and we did not climb the Arch de Triomphe. I wasn't too upset though because I had been up it before.
With a little bit of an upset, we headed back to the apt, packed our bags and fell asleep.
:) Here are some photos. Starting with the alley ways by the pantheon, Cafe, Sacre Coeur and a little cafe in Sacre Coeur.
1 comment:
Tres magnifit! Makes me remember my visits in Paris and meandering the streets seeing the sights. (Sigh)
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