Au Revoir Tour Eiffel, au revoir Chambre d'Amelie...
We're so sad to go. We finally feel right at home... we can even take the metro with our eyes closed. Parisian life has been good for our health as well as our spirit... and soon enough we'll be back in 'reality.'
A car accident snarled traffic on the way to the airport, so we got there with not a whole lot of time to spare. Things improved: one of the airline people noted my condition and had us jump the line (how can I be expected to give up this privilege forever in eight hours?). By the time we got our baggage checked (one was overweight... oops, too many books!), and our tickets printed, the flight was boarding. And so this adventure comes to a close.
We shopped... and actually made purchases, mainly gifts for the loved ones back in the States.
I enjoyed seeing the art deco furniture... and my old friends Van Gogh, Renoir, Monet and how can I forget my provencal buddy, Cezanne. We didn't stay until closing time because we have other plans! 
We both had a dinner of quiche lorraine and tarte aux fraises at the same cafe we lunched at the previous day, and then we walked about twenty feet and entered la Comedie Francaise to see a performance of Cyrano de Bergerac!
We also visited San Sulpice, did some window shopping, and passed by the Old Opera House and the Senate building.
It's the first time in my life I received a menu that actually had no prices on it (only for the ladies, of course; Tom's had them... gentlemen are allowed no illusions)! And the forks were tine down, as I had learned about in my French studies so long ago. There were so many people on staff to assist you... I think we were under the care of five including the sommelier who kept our bottle of Loire Valley wine somewhere safe and brought it all the way to our table only as needed.
Oh it was so yummy, and lest I forget, we had a window table, too!
They are all gorgeous (more interesting than Versailles, too!), but we think 
Thank God, we made 10:00pm mass at Sacre Coeur (front pew). Very dramatic by night!
It's my third visit to this place and I really didn't remember much... I just knew Tom had to see it because of it's of such historical importance. The thing that nearly destroyed our visit was the sheer number of people there. It was like you were at Disney. And they were all part of tour groups, so there was always a mass of people coming towards you to destroy your view of the place. It did thin out as the day wore on, and by the time we got to the awe-inspiring Hall of Battles, the crowds were waning.
We watched the fountain water displays from the windows of the Hall of Mirrors.... we probably had the best view!
Promptly at 5:30pm, everyone was herded out due to the closing of the palace; what we didn't expect was that we couldn't go in the gardens!
Then Tom and I visited the churches of St. Merri and St. Eustache and Les Halles (where the largest outdoor market was in Roman times, it's now a mall).
I indulged and drooled at LaDroguerie, a chic craft store... everything was so beautiful and elegantly presented... unfortunately the prices were a little to steep, so I had to be content to leche-vitrine. We headed to the river for our dinner cruise with the rest of my classmates from the Louvre.
It was a bit colder tonight than usual, or was it just being on the river? Out boat was the Caliphe. Wonderful at last to actually sail down the river and see the sites at night. It was spectacular to see the Eiffel Tower lit up from close...
Afterwards, we went to the Jardin des Plantes. At first we were dismayed because it looked pretty dreary, but we climbed to the top of a hill through a maze we found and discovered a gazebo with a fine view the city. Walking down in the opposite direction from whence we entered, we finally saw the cool stuff: flowery garden vistas (with froggies jumping, too), even a crane sipping from a pond (though Tom found it hard to believe, I'd never seen one in real life before!).
Before we exited, a dragon threatened me....
But my valiant chevalier saved me... and wined and dined me at Le Train Bleu, a fabulous turn-of-the-century train station restaurant with all the charm of the by-gone era of luxury rail travel (with traditional waiter services) at the Gare de Lyon.
I got to play tour guide for Tom and showed him all the masterpieces I had learned about.
To console me, Tom suggested we visited a fabulous patisserie we found nearby; we got beautiful tarts for our dessert later. Such a yummy bargain! 
We thought about a picnic, but every meal's a picnic (without ants) when you dine on the sidewalk in Paris, so we ate at L'ecriture, right in front of La Sorbonne. I had lamb chops, and Tom had a humongous veal chop in a cream sauce. Both were very tasty, indeed.
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