As sad as I am to say this, it’s our last full day in Paris. I know. Already. Two and a half days in Paris does not do this city justice!! But, that’s what we have to work with, so here’s the plan: Sacré-Cœur to start, and then see what the afternoon brings. But first, we need some breakfast!
We have no more foods in the AirBnb, we leave before breakfast tomorrow morning, so we didn’t see the need to stock up on anything here. I have decided, and the others have to obey me this morning, that we are having breakfast at the bistro on the corner. I am done first, and to hurry the others up, I wait outside.
The bistro on the corner opens early enough for our breakfast needs this morning, and there aren’t many other guests around. One lady inside and a couple of people at each their own table outside. We head on in and order some food.
After breakfast, we headed to the subway and made our way towards Sacré-Cœur. The “problem” with this beautiful monument is that it is on the top of a big hill. Super big hill. Hence the draw: without going up into the Eiffel Tower or any other tall building, we get to climb stairs and get a beautiful view of the city! But first, we have to get up to the hill…
The bottom plaza here is usually teeming with scammers and confused and daunted tourists. Luckily, we are out early enough that the scammers aren’t out of bed yet, at least not to fill the bottom plaza. This is where Joe almost got scammed when he was here last, and I saved a couple from scammers last time I was here. The girls are aware, backpacks sometimes on our bellies instead of our backs, and clever ways to hide the zipper sliders.
We don’t plan on going in, and when the trinket sellers get too pushy, we move on. My plan is to take my family on a reverse food tour, as two years ago, my sisters and I had the most fabulous food tour experience up to this church via the back roads I’d never taken before. So now, I lead my group along the side of the church, towards lesser-known sights.
Our first shop is a souvenir shop, and we actually pick up some of the items we contemplated along Champs Elysées yesterday. The next shop is a candy store, where we go in and marvel at all the fun candies, the full hand sized marshmallows, and the larger than life lollipop statue.
After soaking in the atmosphere at the Place du Tertre, watching artists paint and chocolatiers create, we continue down along my route.
Because the Elisabeth version of the reverse food tour did not include any food at all, we are now in need of lunch. We start walking in the direction of the Opéra district, taking random lefts and rights without really finding much of interest in the way of restaurants. Until this:
We find two corners with battling bistros, and pick one for our lunch.
After lunch, we had evaluated our options, and found out that a trip on the TooT bus (hop on, hop off, see Paris in only just over 2 hours) was free for the kids and cheap for the two of us. So that’s what we did! Yes, we walked to most of the monuments yesterday, but what you don’t get when you’re walking, is the insider info and the stories behind buildings. On the other hand, on the second floor of a double decker bus, I felt oddly removed from the city, and much prefer walking the streets to truly get a feel for the city.
(Disclaimer: the following photos are not in the correct tour order.)
Once the TooT bus dropped us back off at our starting point at Opéra, we headed back to the AirBnb to pack and prepare for tomorrow’s early departure. I can never get enough time in Paris, but one deals with what one has to deal with to afford even a taste of this wonderful city. The only area on our list of must see areas during our short visit, is the Latin Quarter, so that’s where we are heading for dinner tonight. I picked a restaurant in an alley that Joe had pointed out earlier, and off we went!
Having now used all five of our metro tickets that we purchased at the airport, we decided to walk the 30 minutes home for our last night in Paris. It allowed us to see Notre Dame in a new light:
We walked along the river, where people were gathering to sing, dance, drink and chat. It’s springtime in Paris, and it shows! People are out and about, enjoying the warmer evenings, or maybe they are just waiting for their homes to cool down for the night? At this point, we are really missing the efficient air conditioning of our Asian travels.
We got home after 9pm, and needed to get up early, so we packed up the rest of our stuff, discovered that the dryer in the apartment didn’t really dry stuff very well, so hung the rest and hope they will be dry by morning! Goodnight, Paris!
Did you mean scammers, or were they pickpockets?
Mostly scammers, but pickpockets are also around. The scammers are sometimes the ones trying to tie a bracelet on you and then demand money. They get really mad when you warn others, and the ones you warn get really grateful.