Adventures in Europe; Day 10

Coffee, Wars, & more Eiffel Tower

Our last day in Europe... tear!

We started our day right with coffee and chocolate croissants at a café on our favorite Paris street: Rue Cler.  Have I mentioned how much we loved Rue Cler?



Café!

Even though it was our last day, we still didn't have the coffee thing down.  I knew my order.  Café au lait = latte.  But Drew was still struggling.  I'm not sure what he ordered, but it came out as a teeny tiny cup of espresso.  I was amused.

It was while we sat sipping our coffee that we saw the craziest thing I've ever seen.  No exaggeration.  Across the street is a lovely little patisserie where they sell all of the delicious macaroons, croissants, and other sweet treats.  They had a huge display of pastries outside.  I watched in horror as a huge pigeon flew INTO the case of pastries!  He flapped around for several minutes before the owner ran up, reached in, pulled out the pigeon, and THREW him on the ground.

The pigeon stood up and walked off dizzily.  I think he was fine.  BUT the store owner just brushed a few feathers out of the display and carried on as usual.  Several minutes later we watched in horror as a couple stopped by and purchased a sack full of pigeon infested goodies.  Seriously, I was mortified.

Back to business; after our breakfast of horrors we walked to the Army Museum.  The gorgeous building housed relics from all of the wars France participated in (there were a lot) and is also the resting place of one Napoleon Bonaparte. 

Army Museum.



Court yard.

Napoleon's Tomb.

Still in Napoleon's Tomb.



Ceiling in Napoleon's Tomb.

Honestly, before traveling to France I really didn't know the history behind Napoleon.  I just knew he had short-man syndrome.  So it was cool learning about him.

Another fella I didn't know about was Charles de Gaulle.  The French are said to credit him with the victory over the Nazis in WWII (we know better) and in reality he was the key figure in the French resistance... something I also didn't know about.  Do you see how much I learned on vacation???

After spending a couple of hours boning up on our French war history, we grabbed some sammies and headed for... you guessed it: the Eiffel Tower.  When are we not headed to the Eiffel Tower?

This time we were determined to go up.  Going up wasn't on my "must-do" list, but I felt like we should probably do it since we were there.  And I'm so glad we did.  The views were amazing, and we only went to the second level!!!

View from the Eiffel Tower.

The Seine.

Beautiful Paris.

More Paris.

Jamie ♥'s Paris.

The Gibsons ♥ Paris.

More views from the tower.

We also enjoyed a picnic lunch on the grounds.  We did this while I kept a tight grip on all of our belongings.  The place was littered with gypsies.  They would come up to you and ask if you speak English then push a clip board in front of you and start speaking rapid fire French and ask you to sign their petition.  I knew they were up to no good, but it wasn't until we got home and I checked online and found that their plan was to pick-pocket you while you were confused and flustered by the whole thing.  See, I'm not crazy. 

Picnic-ing.  Watch out for thieves!!!

Yum yum yum.

 We did a bit of wondering in the afternoon... actually a lot of wondering.  I tried to take us on another Rick Steve's walking tour and we got super lost.  I'm pretty sure we walked to the opposite side of Paris.  Very far.  By the time we made it back to District 7* my dogs were barking!  We made a quick stop at the hotel so I could change into flip flops and then headed back out. 

 

We made what we thought was our last stop at Rue Cler to grab some wine for the night and then said our farewells to what will live on as my favorite place in the world.

 

Rue Cler, I will miss you!

Our next stop was dinner!  We chose a hip-happening café right off a busy street near the subway.  Rick Steve commented that this café is not only dinner, but a show too.  It's the best people watching spot ever because the sidewalks are so crowded.

Drew's fish & greens.  He's such a good eater.

 

My pasta with thick slabs of Parm.  Oh la la!

Folks heading out for the night.  Love the people watching!

 

Our plan was to head straight back to the tower for wine on the lawn.  BUT, seeing as it was our LAST night in Paris, we had to make a little detour.  I bet you'll never guess where to.

 

Yep, we went back to Rue Cler to grab some sorbet and crepe.  It was our last night, we had to indulge, right???

 

Spread some Nutella on there monsieur!

We love crepes & sorbet & Rue Cler.  And each other.

Eventually we did make it back to the Eiffel Tower.  It was our first weekend night there and my how different it was on a Friday!  Things got a bit crazy down there!

 

Such a wonderful night!

Setting Sun.

There were so so many people out.  There were huge groups of people picnicking, drinking, and passing around a hookah.  We kept sniffing out all the stoners.  We are such losers. :)


The tower is of course beautiful all day any day, but at 11:00 it started to sparkle.  I snapped some quick pics and then put my camera away so I could soak up the beauty of the tower and just that moment.  It might sound cheesy but it was so surreal to be sitting in Paris beneath a sparkling Eiffel Tower with the one I love. 




So beautiful.

Everyone loves the tower.

Love Love Love.

I hated to say goodbye.  But it was the perfect way to spend our last night in Paris... our last night in Europe.  Eventually we had to say au revoir.  We headed back to our hotel to get some rest before our long journey home.

 

Lessons Learned:

1.  Check your pastries for feathers.

2.  Beware of Gypsies & thieves.

3.  Going up the Eiffel Tower is totally worth it.

4.  Jamie & Drew cannot read a map.

5.  If you're looking for a party scene, check out the Eiffel Tower on a Friday night!

 

*Lumber