Paris in the rain

Owen Wilson's character in Midnight in Paris stated that Paris is most beautiful in the rain. While this may be true on a warm, summer night, it is certainly not true on a cool day in late June. We have been very fortunate where the weather is concerned, so a little rain was not going to deter our plan to travel along the Seine.

We started our day by devouring more delicious pastries, then made our way to the Metro. We exited near the Place de la Concorde, a museum containing Paris' version of Cleopatra's Needle. From here, we bought some crepes and headed through the Jardin des Tuileries towards the Louvre. We decided to leave exploring the museum for tomorrow and instead continued towards the Notre Dame de Paris. By the time we reached the cathedral, the rain had picked up and we were all damp, cold, and slightly miserable. The rain did nothing to shorten the line for the cathedral, so we took some pictures and started towards the Bastille. We followed our map, eventually arriving at the area of the Bastille, only to learn that the actual structure no longer exists. Thus, we were not able to storm the fortress while shouting "Le Resistance!!!!" (or whatever French revolutionaries screamed back in the day).

Cold, wet, and hungry, we boarded the Metro and headed towards our hotel. We went to a nice French restaurant for dinner, and I decided to sample the local fare. I had already ordered frog legs earlier in our stay, so I went with the escargot (snails) as a starter and the canard (duck) for my main course, topped off with a nice glass of red. To my surprise, the escargot was very tasty. After dinner, we headed to a local bar to watch the second half, extra time, and penalty kicks of the Italy/England match (Italy prevailed in the end).

Today, we will be touring the Arc de Triomphe, Champ d'elysees, and Louvre. Our flight home is very early in the morning, so the the next post will likely be delayed. Check back sometime Wednesday evening for a post recapping our final full day in the city of love.


A final note from Matthew J. Murphy

I have successfully had a pasta dish in all three countries we visited, including spaghetti bolognese in three different restaurants. I have also sampled the European styles of KFC, BK, and McDonald's, big milestones in my book. There is no shower in our hotel here, just a bathtub and a shower hose attachment. I have never felt more shame bathing myself. My final thoughts on the countries/cities: France has the smelliest people, if you own a bike in Amsterdam you are king of the road, and the Germans know how to pump up a night club.