Paris Finale

I know you have been anxiously awaiting to hear how our trip to Paris ended, so here goes....

On our last day in Paris, we of course had to spend loads of money on gifts for friends back here so we treked on over to Galleries Lafayettes, the Parisian version of Macy's, Bloomingdales or other regional department stores. On Stacy's directions, we took a bus to the front of the old Opera where we took photos and got cash from an ATM.



Alise, Nicole and I spent a good bit of time in the touristy section of the store buying up all kinds of trinkets for family and friends. It took us almost as much time finding our way out of the labrynth/store as it took us to pick out gifts (I think this is their way of keeping you trapped inside so you have to be bombarded by images of stuff that you 'must' have and buy...coming soon to a theater near you "Escape from Galleries Lafayettes!"). When we returned to Stacy's, we had another yummy lunch then packed up our bags so that we wouldn't have to do it late at night or too early in the morning.



From that point on, we were on a sprint to see how many more things we could fit into our stay in Paris. We walked to a cafe that served some fantastic hot chocolate. Stacy and Alise bought the kind that you mixed at the table...it came with two miniature pitchers one with hot melted chocolate and the other with warm milk. It was fun to watch both of them mix the concoction at the table and discuss the best way to do it. I ordered a chocolat chaud avec chantilly so Nicole could eat up the fresh whipped cream. After this brief but worthwhile stop, we wondered around a bit, were turned away from Jardin de Luxembourg (it closed up before we made it there), bought some galette sablees (the original shortbreads that the girl scouts are trying to imitate) and stopped to drink a vin chaud while Nicole napped in the Jeep stroller. Finally, it was time for a last great Parisian meal and we settled on a restaurant, La Durer, named after a French artist that is located in Montmartre. I had been there many times before most notably the last time Jay and I visited Paris. The french onion soup was sublime! Even Stacy ordered some of the soup ignoring the thought that there might have been beef stock included that would normally offend her vegetarianism. I honestly don't remember what I had as an entree because the soup was too memorable. I know we had dessert, too...probably ice cream.



We sleepily made our way back to the apartment and into bed to be ready for our journey home. Truly the only notable thing to mention about the trip home is that Nicole was a dream traveler....she was so well behaved that I got numerous compliments about her behavior that I am sure surprised everyone....I think she handles the hours of traveling better then I do.