Well, as Gretchen said, yesterday was pretty much the most awesome day ever. I knew we wouldn’t be able to top it, but today was pretty darn great.
We did lots of sight seeing around Paris, including the Panthéon, Napoleon’s tomb at Les Invalides, the Grand Army Museum, the Arch of Triumph, St. Chapelle’s chapel, and a few other things. We also did some shopping.
Pillars on the outside of the Panthéon
So pretty inside!
Foucault’s pendulum
Rousseau’s tomb in the crypts at the Panthéon
Napoleon’s tomb
Part of the Grand Army museum
Les Invalides
Arch of Triumph
Eternal Flame
St. Chapelle chapel
Stunningly beautiful
All of that was great, but to be honest… the best parts of the day were meal times. At lunch we went to a small café near the Grand Army Museum where both Gretchen and I had delicious chicken, mozzarella and tomato sandwiches. Dave chose to eat the 26 Euro menu meal, which was 4 courses consisting of escargot, lamb, tiramisu and coffee. Everyone else was done and he was still working on his first course, ha. It looked delicious though, so I’m sure it was worth it. Brendon and Luke ate nearly raw steak, but so far so good on the Salmonella front.
We ate dinner at Ratatouille, and it was hands down the best meal I’ve eaten while in France.
For an appetizer I had a tart with tomato, caramelized onions, and slices of eggplant with a small salad… SO delicious:
And my main course was salmon with pesto and rice… also completely delicious:
Gretchen enjoyed a large steak with seasoned potatoes as an entrée, and baked apple with vanilla gelato for dessert. According to her, it was also delicious.
The nine of us spent 2.5 hours in the restaurant and I don’t think I’ve laughed as hard as I did in a really long time. Dave gave a great toast that was something along the lines of “Paris… the city of light. May we add to the ever increasing brightness of it’s glow” which was hilarious and awesome all at the same time.
Couldn’t have asked for a better group to explore France with than these people.
I can’t believe we fly home tomorrow… on the one hand I am sad that our trip is coming to an end because it has been so much fun, and I’ve really enjoyed experiencing another country with some extremely awesome people. On the other hand I am definitely ready to be back in the United States, where I know the language and culture (though I’m not exactly thrilled for the loooooong flight that lies ahead.)
I must add a thank you shout out to Tim and Alex for being Paris tram champs. That subway system is ridiculously confusing, and we never would have found our way if not for them.
To close, here is a Haiku about Paris written by Brendon:
The City of Light, Paris
Walking, seeking, foreign tongues
Twas most amazing
BACK AND BETTER THAN EVER 