Our last full day

On our very first day in Paris, we found ourselves in this quaint garden just outside of Saint Julien de Pauvre. It was a quiet respite from a long journey.

A place where you could sit and enjoy your morning coffee and croissant. A place where you could contemplate your day ahead. A place that allowed those less fortunate gather and meet their friends. While still others found a place to sleep away from the prying eyes of the public who might otherwise judge them as many do when seeing a homeless person sleeping on a sidewalk.



Its difficult to see by the picture, but the grey 'tree' on the right that seems to be holding up the tree trunk on the left, is in effect cement and is holding up the tree. There's a story behind it I'm sure but I didn't get a chance to find out what it is. Many visitors exiting the church, stopped and admired the tree with reverance. Some even photographed themselves with the tree. There must be some amazing story behind this cement support.









It is this place we found ourselves on our last full day in Paris. As we munched on our pain au chocolat and sipped our coffees, we were silent. Full of thoughts of the day ahead and of our very long journey home.

We brushed off the crumbs from our food and sent the pigeons and finches off in a cloud of feathers.

We made our way back up to the Pantheon. We almost unknowingly retraced our steps backwards from the Sunday before. Back the Pantheon, back towards the Jardins de Luxembourg but instead of going there, we turned down Saint Michel, briefly visiting the currently under construction Sorbonne.

We made our way through the streets of the Saint Germain district to a wine shop where my husband bought a pricey bottle of wine to bring home.

We passed 'L'Hotel' where Oscar Wilde spent his last days. We even stopped at a Starbucks for a coffee. The prices were almost the same there, only in euros..now that's one pricey cup of joe.

Back to the hotel to reorganize and relax. We had planned an early dinner at a fondue place my husband found on his way to find a grocertia but alas, it didn't start serving dinner until 7pm. We knew we had to be up and out of the hotel by 6am to make our flight to Munich so that place was out.

I know my husband really wanted to eat there, perhaps it was because it was called Alexander's. Next time we visit Paris we will make an effort to be there for the 7pm all you can eat fondue.

We wandered back through the maze of streets and restaurants while we pondered what to eat for our last meal in Paris. We hadn't done a lot of pricey French places and this trend would continue. We opted instead for the smaller bistros and cafes. It was back to a pizzeria that we ate our last meal.

We nibbled on our pizzas while we watched the last of the book sellers and tourist swag hawkers pack up their goods and store them in the big green lockers until next weekend when again they would bring out their wares.



We headed back to the hotel full of pizza and post meal caffeine. We packed up our luggage and prepared for the very long day ahead.