Salut! Today was the first day we “slept in” we got up around 8:30 and then packed up and left our apartment around 11:30am. I used quotations because I didn’t fall asleep until almost 3am so it wasn’t really extra sleep. 🙂
Today we didn’t have too much on our agenda because we saw most of the highlights yesterday. We had breakfast at a small cafe, Dustin and I split one galette (a egg and cheese crêpe made with buckwheat flour) and 1 crêpe with Nutella inside. It was very yummy! Then we headed to see the Notre Dame de Paris also known as the Notre Dame Cathedral. It was beautiful, here are a few pictures from our visit. We tried one shot using the cathedral as the H in the OH-IO…good effort right? We are a bit small in the picture. 🙂
On the Pont de l’Archevêché, one of the bridges leading to Notre Dame, lovers write their names on locks, hook them to the bridge, and throw the key in the Seine River. Here is a picture Dustin took.
After our stop at Notre Dame we walked around and I bought a clearance pair of jeans at the H&M store because for some reason I only packed jean capris and the one pair I wore to the airport. I bought jeans for 9.95 EUR…what a steal in Paris! After our short shopping trip… Sarah and I went to the Le Sainte-Chapelle Cathedral, the stained glass here was amazing. It was 8.50 EUR pp to enter so the boys decided to sit it out and look at our pictures. The entire bible is represented on the stained glass along each of the walls. They have cards that tell you what books of the bible are located on which panels of glass. It’s so amazing that in the 1200’s, they could create such masterpieces.
We meet up with the boys at the Shakespeare and Company bookstore. This bookstore is dedicated to Walt Whitman because this location was opened by him in 1951, it serves as a library and bookstore specializing in english literature.It was a very small store with great character. No pictures were allowed inside, but here is an outside photo.
The area by Notre Dame was full of french cafes lining the streets, many of which had 3 course meals for 10 EUR each. So we had a traditional French meal. I had Soupe à l’oignon, Boeuf Bourguignon, and la mousse au chocolat, and Dustin had salad, a lamb dish and ice-cream. One of his ice-cream flavors was apple. It was so good, we need to bring that flavor to the states!
After our wonderful day of french cuisine, we headed back to our apartment to pick up our bags. The man who rented to us had a closet we stored them in throughout the day. Then we began the fun trek to the airport. Metro stations are not made for carrying 40 lb suitcases, there are only stairs in most parts until you get closer to the airport. Once we got on the train, it was of course packed, and we got a few stares when our bags were in the way. 🙂 We successfully made it to the airport and walked a long way to our terminal. Paris has many beautiful sights to see, most areas next to attractions are nice, but the metro and other areas are very dirty. I won’t miss that.
My ankle is much better today, but my right pinky-toe is bothering me. I bought some medical tape at a pharmacy in Paris to tape it for the other walking days. I didn’t know the french word for tape so that was a fun conversation. Others are having the same problem with the pinky toes….good thing we are taking a break from walking tomorrow. 🙂 We have arrived in Toulouse, France to spend the night just by the airport, then we are driving to Barcelona! We are all very excited to visit Barcelona. Unfortunately we won’t get into the city until around 1 pm, so we are renting bikes to see the sights faster. We originally wanted to go straight to Barcelona from Paris, but the one-way drop fee for our rental car to pick up in Barcelona and drop in Munich was 6x the price vs. picking it up in France.
After Barcelona we will stop in Cannes & Nice France. Then we will drive to Italy & see Pisa, Rome, Florence, and Venice. If you have a favorite sight in one of those places or along the way that we must see, leave us a comment!
Au Revoir!
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