As I type this draft of my blog past, we are sitting in the Paris airport waiting to board our flight. I didn't get a chance to type one up yesterday evening even though we gave ourselves two hours of free time to simply relax.
Our last day in Paris started out entertaining. Our tour guide, Tini, offered to take anyone who wanted to go to Montmartre by way of the Metro. Since our optional excursion to Giverny was cancelled due to lack of interest, Tom & I took the opportunity to not only see more of Paris/France but to also possibly learn how navigate the Metro.
Montmartre is on one of the steep hills of Paris. After making our way there via the Metro, some of us took a tram up to the top. To be honest, I would have climbed the steps with Tom but I was pretty tired with aching feet from the previous day (Friday). Plus the tram just seemed too interesting to pass up.
Once we reached the top, we took some pictures of magnificent views of Paris, a few including the Eiffel Tower in the distance. After Tini guided us down a few streets, we were able to explore on our own if we wanted. Tom and I back-tracked to the first place I saw crepes sold at (a nutella one at that!). Then we had our portrait drawn by one of the several artists drawing along the cobbled streets of Montmartre. The picture turned out great! We can't wait to show it to everyone.
We spent time looking around for last minute souvenirs then headed to the Metro where I seem to have figured out. Huzzah! We made one stop near a book store to get my mom a French cook book (it's not in English though, sorry) and a quick lunch. I had a "toastie" with ham and a sunny-side-up egg (yum), which is slightly comparable to a grilled cheese sandwich. After that, we decided we didn't have much else we wanted to do since Musee d'Orsay had too long of a line with not enough time, so we went back to our hotel room to pack and relax.
Around 5:45pm, we meet our tour group downstairs in the bar of our hotel for a free drink offered by the hotel. Shortly thereafter we headed out for our last optional excursion with our group which was a 3-course dinner with drinks and a cruise on the Seine river! It's too bad the two weren't combined because that would have made it even more amazing.
Dinner was fairly decent with split pea soup, bœuf bourguignon, and chocolate cake. I also drank way more wine than I usual do though I suppose that's not saying much seeing as I never drink wine (not a fan, it doesn't usually taste good). What made the evening dinner great was bonding with four of the people from our tour group and getting to know them better. Additionally, Tom got to rattle off all of his knowledge on medications as a Pharmacist and I do love seeing him share his wealth of knowledge.
Once dinner was over, we headed to the Seine River so that we could board our boat for the cruise. It was amazing! I never thought or considered I would be on a boat along the Seine River!! Despite the rain, Tom and I wandered all around the boat once it started moving. We took lots of pictures but most turned out dark or blurry which is a shame because Paris is truly beautiful when it's all lit up at night. The Eiffel tower is especially beautiful when it's lit up, even more so when lights dance on the Eiffel tower at one point. It was spectacular!
We had more bonding time with part of our tour group on the cruise. Then once the cruise was over and we made it back to our hotel, our group friends stopped at the bar across the street for a drink. Despite it being very late and the fact that our flight was leaving so early today, we hesitated to join them. However, I'm glad we changed our mind and joined them for drinks. They also passed out copies of the pages everyone signed their names with emails/phone numbers/addresses. I'm glad we'll be able to keep in touch.
Well, we're about to hop in line to board our flight. I'm desperately hoping we get to sleep on our flight from London to Philadelphia as we're both exhausted! We can't wait to see our families when we get back home.
Au revoir and cheers!
No comments:
Post a Comment