Finale

Tired

Monday dawned early and Mike and I are actually worn out and really missing the kids.  But fearlessly we headed out.  We went first to the Pantheon.  This is the final resting place of greats like Victor Hugo, Alexander Dumas and Marie Curie.  The architecture is, of course, amazing.  This was a fun spot in many ways because the crowds we're very light and so we could actually see the neat paintings and inscriptions.

A fixture along the river banks are the book sellers.  I guess there have been book sellers along there since revolution times when they would secretly hand out incendiary material.  Everything was in french so I didn't buy anything but as a life long bibliophile it was great to just browse.

Next we hoofed it to the the Hotel des Invalides which is basically their va hospital.  But of course it old, ornate, and very grand.  In the dome rotunda Napoleon Bonaparte is entombed.  It is the biggest coffin in the world surrounded by marble pillars, statues, and ornate halls.  It was just about what you'd expect from someone with a "Napoleon" complex. 

From there we walked passed the Grand and Pettit palais.  These were built for a world exposition and now are museum spaces.  By this time Mike and I had nearly walked our legs off so we did not stop for a visit.  We headed back to our room to rest before dinner.

For dinner we chose a restaurant whose chef is the inspiration for Gusteau in the movie Ratatouille.  It was very gourmet.  Mike braved the snails and actually liked them.  Our meals were beef filet and cod.  These were delicious.  In between courses our waiter kept bringing little samples of things. Crackers with exotic toppings, a fish stick and sauce and little dessert samplings.  The most fun was my dessert.  I had carrot sushi.  It was sweetened rice wrapped with carrots served with meringue "chop sticks".  It was fun to look at and very fun to eat.  Hopefully the pictures will do it justice.

We headed next for a night view of the city from Sacre Cour.  This was a let down because most of the student populations of Paris was doing the same thing and with enough alcohol to kill a moose.  And you couldn't even see the Eiffel Tower from the hill so we quickly exited the intoxicated crowd and headed for the other intoxicated crowd at the base of the tower.  The tower shimmers for 5 minutes on the hour which was fun to watch.  We hailed a cab, did a little turn around the arc de triumph and headed home.  We had a fun cab driver who seemed to find joy in showing us where Princess Diana was killed and where he was at the time.  Each to his own.