We spent our last day in Paris doing all the things that didn't require a museum pass... We started out by going up to Père Lachaise cemetery before going up to Montmartre to see Sacré Coeur. The cemetery was huge and very crowded, and I had pictured it being more of a park, but I was wrong. I saw some very interesting graves though.
On the way up, Erin, Lisa, and I stopped for lunch at this little street café that turned out to be really good! I had a very reasonably priced, filling meal. I finally had quiche in Paris! I had a goat cheese and tomato quiche with pain au chocolat for dessert and orangina to drink. The pain au chocolat was the best I have had during the entire trip, which would arguably make it the best one ever. The chocolate inside was melted. MMmm. So good. Then we all headed up the hill to see the basilica, which was beautiful, but not nearly as white and as clean as I had pictured it. We were told it was self-cleaning stone, but it didn't look all that clean to me up close. The inside of the church was beautiful, as expected, but we weren't allowed to take any photographs. I lit another candle like I always do for Dino and Nonna Mia. As we left, we saw many people trying to tie bracelets and demand money. Luckily, we didn't get caught by them, but we did stop to watch other people, which was pretty funny.
After Montmartre, we headed down towards the catacombs! I'm glad I went, but it's not something I'd like to do again. It was creepy and I didn't like being down there. Once was enough.
After that, we walked around Montparnasse and did some shopping. I tried to get Patrick to buy a pair of shoes, but he didn't really like them, so we went to fnac to meet up with everyone and started playing with all the gadgets and toys. I apologized for being a nerd, but he just laughed and said "You're an engineer. I would expect nothing less." He had a point. One of the iPads had Tiny Wings installed (which is my favorite app ever but isn't available for Android so I haven't played it in a long time) so I was very excited to play that again.
We lost Sam for a bit in the shoe store, but we finally found her and then some of us headed back to the hotel to start packing. I tried, but didn't feel like starting because we were about to go to dinner, so I didn't get anything done. For dinner, we went to this nice café near the hotel and we had fresh pasta! I originally asked for spaghetti carbonara, but the chef mixed up all the pastas, so I ended up with tagliatelle carbonara, which I was perfectly okay with because I was debating between that and spaghetti in the first place. It was delicious! Probably the best meal I had in Paris. It was also Italian food and therefore the most familiar to me, so that probably had something to do with it... but it really was well prepared and tasty. For dessert, I had millefoglia which was so good! Such a great meal. I was really pleased.
Before going back to the hotel once and for all, Erin, Patrick, and I went to the Monoprix to pick up some chocolate for the trip home. I helped Erin pick out European candies to bring back while I got really excited over all of my favorite chocolates that I can't find in the US. I found ChocoMoos, which I only ever had in Berlin, but they're my favorite cookies, so I brought a box of those back home, and then I brought some Kinder eggs for my brother with Asterix and Obelix toys inside, and a large Kinder egg for my whole family to open for Easter. Unfortunately, those are contraband, but I think I'll make it through customs okay...
We finally went back to the hotel and I spent the rest of the night trying to pack up all of my things and be ready to go to the airport bright and early in the morning.
We lost Sam for a bit in the shoe store, but we finally found her and then some of us headed back to the hotel to start packing. I tried, but didn't feel like starting because we were about to go to dinner, so I didn't get anything done. For dinner, we went to this nice café near the hotel and we had fresh pasta! I originally asked for spaghetti carbonara, but the chef mixed up all the pastas, so I ended up with tagliatelle carbonara, which I was perfectly okay with because I was debating between that and spaghetti in the first place. It was delicious! Probably the best meal I had in Paris. It was also Italian food and therefore the most familiar to me, so that probably had something to do with it... but it really was well prepared and tasty. For dessert, I had millefoglia which was so good! Such a great meal. I was really pleased.
Before going back to the hotel once and for all, Erin, Patrick, and I went to the Monoprix to pick up some chocolate for the trip home. I helped Erin pick out European candies to bring back while I got really excited over all of my favorite chocolates that I can't find in the US. I found ChocoMoos, which I only ever had in Berlin, but they're my favorite cookies, so I brought a box of those back home, and then I brought some Kinder eggs for my brother with Asterix and Obelix toys inside, and a large Kinder egg for my whole family to open for Easter. Unfortunately, those are contraband, but I think I'll make it through customs okay...
We finally went back to the hotel and I spent the rest of the night trying to pack up all of my things and be ready to go to the airport bright and early in the morning.