Today, we grabbed a quick breakfast at Columbus Cafe (a small walk-up cafe down the street from the Pantheon and our hotel). We had muffins and coffee (Eric) and OJ (me) - tres francaise, I know. Then, we tried to find watches at Monoprix (the Target of France), but they apparently don't carry them.
Side note/tangent about watches: See, Eric and I both have watches, but we don't wear them because the batteries are dead and because they were gifts from old relationships. So when I mentioned that when I studied in France I bought a cute lil watch from Monoprix, Eric got really excited and proclaimed that we should buy new watches together at Monoprix! Sadly, this didn't happen...We'll keep searching.
Anyway, Monoprix did carry kleenex, and we bought that, which is good because our noses have been stuffy since we got here.
After that exciting shopping venture, we took the Metro to the Eiffel Tower. Eric felt confident in our leg strength and talked me into taking the stairs instead of the elevator. We went as high as you can go up the stairs (a bit more than half way up).
Our legs were sore after that, but we continued to walk around the area for a bit and then grabbed lunch at a local sandwich shop/bar. Sandwiches were not so good, but the beer was delightful. :)
On part of our walk, we saw this cute white Newfoundland (which reminded us of Indy's boyfriend Tonka back home) walking off-leash. I tried to get a picture of him taking a swim in a fountain, but he jumped out too fast. His owner was a cute elderly French man who had a special whistle that he used to get the dog to come back to him. It was cute and made us miss Indy.
After lunch, we took the Metro over to the Arc de Triomphe. We struggled with how to actually get to the Arc (struggled = spent a serious 20 mins or so). You can stand across the street and take pics of the Arc, but you absolutely cannot cross the street - there are tons of cars coming from about six different directions. We saw signs telling us to take stairs down into a tunnel to get to the Arc, but we weren't sure which stairs were the correct stairs. We tried one set of stairs that led us to the Metro station. That wasn't right. We tried another set that took us back where we initially came out of the Metro. That wasn't right. Then Eric found the correct stairs, which took us to a place underground where we had to pay to go up the Arc. We decided at that point that our legs were too tired and we didn't really care enough to pay to walk up more stairs. Funny thing is, I had been there before with my mom and I don't remember it being difficult at all!So we walked along the Champs Elysee for a bit and then went to a little cafe/brasserie near our hotel for a little cheese plate and wine. The stinky cheese just is not for me (Eric either). But I do love me some Camembert and Brie.
After that, it was nap time and then we went out for a late dinner in the Saint Germain area - some pizza and a carafe of wine enjoyed while sitting at a table outside.
It was our last night in Paris, and it was lovely.
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