Day 181: Last day in Paris

Last day in Paris. The end of our trip is coming up way too fast. We had zero plans today... We just wanted an nice relaxing day to take it all in.

We let the girls sleep in a bit, though, if it were up to Abby, I think she would have kept sleeping until well into the afternoon. The cities take their tolls on you... There's so much to see and so much visual stimulation, and we invariably walk a ton so it adds up.

We decided to start our day at the iconic heart, if not the actual Center, of Paris, the Arc de Triomphe. We took one of the RER lines which are basically double decker commuter trains that turn into subways in the city. It's amazing how many people are in the metro system at any given time. The excellent transport system in Paris is what allows the city not to feel like the most densely populated city in Europe that it is.

I think the views from the monument that sits at the top of the Champs Élysées are the best in Paris.

I loved staring down at all of the major streets that radiate to and from the huge, chaotic roundabout below.

We looked down at our next target, the famous shopping street that leads down in a straight line through the Place de la Concorde, the Tuileries Garden and right to the Louvres.

On the way back down, we saw a presentation on all of the other "arches" built around the world, both before and after this monument. Lo and behold, a slide came up showing the Prince's Gate at the Ex. Very cool.

Walking around the square inside the roundabout, you get an appreciation for how big and ornate the arch really is. Though Napolean didn't survive until its completion, agreeing with the architect to put it where it is (rather than the original plan of putting it at Bastille Place) was a decision that showed great foresight considering the city wasn't anywhere as close to its current size.

We began walking down the extra wide boulevard of the Champs Élysées. Although there are a lot of high end shops, I would say it's not as upmarket as Omotesando and beyond. There are certainly more expensive areas in Paris in the 1st and 2nd arrondissement. Nonetheless, we did find a "public" toilet that was $3 per person. Abby and I decided we could hold out until later!

I love envisioning the loops of the final day of the Tour de France each year, zooming up and down the cobbled streets until the final sprint on the final lap. It doesn't look like it, but at sixty kilometers or more per hour on a bike, the way up hill on the wide street would be brutal.

Towards the bottom of the street, the shops and buildings disappear to a wider park area on both sides. Today, they were in the throws of setting up a massive Christmas display for a kilometer on both sides of the street. They were also constructing a large Ferris wheel at the Place de la Concorde for the winter season. Paris would be an incredible experience at Christmas for sure.

I wanted to see the fountain up close that features in the Tour broadcast as they do each lap. There is one fountain on each side of the rectangular roundabout that sits in the middle of Place de la Concorde.

In the middle, is the oldest relic in the city - the 3,300 year old Luxor Egyptian obelisk - similar to ones we'd seen throughout Rome and even Istanbul.

Continuing, we reached the beginning of the Tuileries - the large, flat park area that reminds me of the Washington Mall. I love how all the parks have a hard, dirt and gravel mix for their main walking areas. It's a low cost, easy to maintain surface that does well in rain or sun. Why do we have parks full of grass that we have to pay municipal workers to cut once a month...

We stopped by one of the two artificial lakes in the park for some chillaxing. Robin earned two Euros for a sorely needed 10 minute neck rub.

We turned North, back into the streets of Paris just before we got to the Louvres. It was time to search for a place to eat. It didn't take long before we found a suitable place with Cycling branded beer. That's me on the label obviously....

We worked our way towards the Opera area. The Opera building is huge, and sits perched in front of a large, busy criss cross of roads that just serves to accentuate the dominance of the building. Beth and I stayed near here the last time we were in Paris, so we'd been in and around this neighbourhood quite a bit.

Stumbling on the Passage du Jouffroy, one of the dozens of covered shopping arcades in Paris was a nice little surprise. We followed it up and down, then across the street where the covered streets full of shops continued in another incarnation.

We followed the streets and the people, all the way down to Les Halles, which we seem to keep popping into. The girls enjoyed some more shopping, and I was able to catch Robin trying out some high heeled boots. Oh my god...

Continuing towards the Seine, we eventually emerged onto Pont neuf, the departure point for our boat trip up and down the Seine. We figured dusk would be a good time to go and watch the city transition to night time.

It was pretty chilly on the river, but, we're Canadian and it was a good time to remember what that meant.

The views of the city from the river were spectacular.

When we turned around at the Eiffel Tower, we were headed East, away from the setting sun. For the half hour ride back, the sun did us a huge favour by slowing its traditional rate of setting. The sky went from yellow, to orange, to pink to purple and we just stared in amazement at the city.

The view of Notre Dame as we circled around Ile de Cite was spectacular in the early evening. I love that building.

Beth was on a desperate mission to have Beef Bourginon, but the busy places near Gare du Nord didn't have it, and the only place that did was a sketchy-ish Brasserie run by a Chinese family that looked right out of Roadhouse, so we lost our mojo. We ended up going to a grocery store and picking up healthy-ish options and eating in the room.

It was not exactly a send off dinner, but man, we're finding that eating out in Europe is more like eating out at home, and you know how tired that can be after two weeks. It's funny, the thought of eating at restaurants every meal never phased me much in Asia, but I've really had it.... Bring on Costco, Young's produce, Dimpflmyer (don't care about spelling!) and home cooking!

At least Beth did have a massive bottle of red wine as an au revoir to Paris!