Paris, Days Three and Four

Day Three

Sunday morning was bright and sunny. We began our day (as we did each of our days in Paris!) with cafe and croissant at the counter of a little cafe. This one was at the bottom of Montmartre. We have excellent bread and pastries in Switzerland, but nothing beats a Parisian croissant. Yum.

Matt's espresso and my cafe creme.

After breakfast, we made our way up to Sacré-Cœur for 11 a.m. mass. Matt almost got snagged by the bracelet guys at Sacré-Cœur. Luckily I snatched his hand away and pushed right past them. It was unnerving to have complete strangers grab your hand and refuse to let go.

One of our few non-selfie photos of the trip. I struggle to hand over my DSLR or iPhone to complete strangers for a photo.

After mass we strolled through Montmartre. The Place du Tertre was buzzing with artists and tourists, but the rest of Montmartre was pretty quiet - not much was open. After a bit of wandering, we finally found a bit of Rue de Martyrs with lots of open shops. There were a number of tempting lunch spots, but we had already decided what we'd have for Sunday lunch....

CHIPOTLE!!!

Yep. We ate Chipotle in Paris. You see, there is no Chipotle in Switzerland. In fact, there aren't many American chain restaurants at all, while Paris has quite a few. We couldn't pass up an opportunity for a bit of home and Chipotle in Paris lived up to expectations.

It tasted like home.

Thanks for the action photo, Matt. Yum.

After lunch we worked our way from Montmartre to the Eiffel Tower for our 3:30 reservation. I was so glad we bought our tickets ahead of time and saved ourselves the several hour wait for the ONE open ticket window. Insane! Instead, we walked right up to the reservation line and were on our way to the top about 15 minutes later. 

A cold and windy storm blew in as we waited in line. Amazingly, it cleared just as we stepped off the lift on the second platform and gave us this spectacular view of Paris.

Wow

Another non-selfie! This couple handed their DSLR over first,
so I passed mine off as well. I figured they couldn't run far... 

And then the clouds cleared out for blue skies!

 On our walk back to the flat from the Eiffel Tour, Matt's keen eye spotted these.

Which clearly he had to try. As with most pigs, this one was delicious - a rich chocolate cake, almost like a donut, covered in pink fondant. Are fondant pigs a thing in France? I don't know...

Matt's food discoveries continued when he finally found his favorite snack food from his semester abroad in France. They taste like tomato soup flavored Cheetos. They grossed me out at first, but grew on me. 

He also insisted on a Quick Burger, another old favorite. No idea why I chose to photograph him eating it in front of McD's. Also, it was gross and did not grow on me. 

After dinner (yes, he ate dinner after all this snacking!!), we went on a night time driving tour of Paris. We booked this tour last minute - when we arrived at our flat, actually. The tour guide, Karyn, was a neighbor in the building and a friend of our host. She met us and let us into the flat when we arrived, as our host was running late. For 40 Euros, she drove us around the City of Light for two hours, stopping at the best spots for views and photos and telling fantastic stories. She also took us to Paris' award-winning ice cream parlor: Berthillon. It's no Jeni's, but could be a close second.

Opera National de Paris 

Louvre

Arc de Triomphe - See the scaffolding? Boo.

Notre Dame

And so ended Day Three in Paris. 

Day Four

We initially planned to spend the day (finally) at the Louvre. But the weather once again persuaded us otherwise. Two trips to Paris and I still haven't been to the Louvre. I am downright uncultured.

We made our way to Place de la Concorde, a beautiful square that was the site of many guillotine executions during the French Revolution. How charming.

 

On Karyn's recommendation, we made a stopped for a visit at l'Eglise de la Madeleine, a church without any windows.... only a row of skylights. The church has some interesting history - commissioned by a king, repurposed by Napoleon as a monument to his army and then, after some military misfortunes, returned to the Catholic church.

La Madeleine

I'm not sorry to say that we spent the rest of the day shopping. Uncultured. But both of us are in need of some properly fitting clothes at non-swiss prices and Paris was more than happy to comply. It was wonderful. 

While shopping we passed a very interesting pet store.

I'm glad Henry wasn't with us. He quite impressionable.

Before we knew it, we were off to the airport for our flight home. Our weekend in Paris was over and we missed so much - Centre Pompidou, Musee D'Orsay, the Louvre.... Clearly we'll be back soon!

Catch up on Days One and Two in Paris here!