Museum of Natural History and Catacomb

Our last full day in Paris and we had a Lily chosen item on the agenda. We had to fuel up with one more croissant and pain au chocolat. This time we also had passion fruits from the market to enjoy with yogurt.

On our way to our outing we happened across a local Sunday market. It was amazing! We would love to have this weekly market to do all our shopping. Each stall was a different item. The cheese shop alone was heaven. 

 

It was all centered around a fountain in the 5th arr. 

After drooling in the market we made our way to the Natural History Museum Gallery of Evolution. They have a huge multi-story exhibit of animals. 

Lily loves a Natural History Museum and this is one of the oldest. It was a little hard to enjoy since none of the placards are in English so we couldn't read the descriptions. 

This is definitely what it feels like to have two teens on vacation. 

One of the main things that enticed us to visit was a special exhibit all about feline species. 

The exhibit was really well done and very interesting. We spend a couple hours in the museum in total. 

After so much culture and learning we needed refreshment. We headed to a cafe we had missed a few days ago back in St Germain called Cafe de Flore. We got a cozy little table and enjoyed one last French Bistro lunch followed by a chocolate chaud with chantilly cream of course. 

After our late lunch we split up as Lily wanted to visit the Catacombs and Gemma had NO INTEREST in seeing dead people bones. Gemma and I wandered the neighborhood a bit and popped into some shops that had amazing holiday decor. It was quite busy and full of hustle and bustle. 

The catacombs were very interesting and they learned all the history. 

On the way home Gemma and I caught sight of one more hilarious French classic. Chestnuts roasting on an open fire...in a shopping cart. 

We reconvened back at the apartment and did our packing up. Tomorrow was our flight home. 

The airport was a hectic scene with huge queues for immigration and passport. We were caught with overweight luggage and got caught having to check some bags. Luckily the line for traveling with children under 18 was much shorter than the ridiculous long regular line. So we had time to relax and get a pret a mange and coffee at the gate. 

At least we left on a rainy day so we didn't miss much. Au Revoir Paris, until next time. Hopefully it won't be another 17 years until we see you!

Arc de Triomphe

We didn't have much planned for our Saturday. We bought tickets to go up the Arc de Triomphe in the evening for the views of the Eiffel Tower at twinkly time.  We started off just on a walking tour from our apartment to some open air markets. 

The Marche des Enfants Rouge has lovely stalls with everything you need for your weekly shopping. We wished we could have bought everything in sight. 

We then walked all the way down to Il Saint-Louis wandering and popping in shops along the way. We had worked up an appetite walking all that way.

We waited patiently for a table at Le Saint Regis cafe. It was worth the wait for a charcuterie platter, spaghetti bolognese (Gemma) and a croque monsieur. 

After lunch we walked over to Il de la Cite and saw the Notre Dame once more. We thought about going inside St Chapelle but the queue was around the block. Seems everyone who cannot get into Notre Dame due to the restorations has decided to go to St Chapelle. So we skipped that for some Holiday displays at Galeries Lafayette Haussmann. Seems the Holiday Madness shopping had begun and it was INSANE crowded. 

We got out of there quick and went to the Trocadero to see views of the Eiffel Tower from there. It is a great spot but so so very touristy and crowded. 

We managed to snap a few views away from crowds. The kids mostly enjoyed watching the famous cup game scammers that try to trick tourists into playing for money. Which you infamously always lose. Why do people fall for this stuff?

It was a great time of day for photos as it was starting to get darker. 

We had our tickets for the Arc so we headed on the Metro over there. 

Luckily we planned ahead and bought tickets the night before. The line was all the way through the passage tunnel to get to the arc. We waited for our turn and headed inside. 

Surprise surprise you have to climb the 284 steps to the top and we had about 10 minutes until the lights of the Eiffel tower twinkle! It was a race to the top but we all survived. 

The views were worth it and it was a bright clear evening. 

Montmartre and Sacre Couer

Once we didn't have any more early morning reservations we could relax a little and have breakfast at our apartment. Alex was our croissant man and would procure fresh baked goods each morning. 

It's hard to find a bad pastry in Paris. 

We had plans to go to the Montmartre neighborhood and see the Sacre Couer. Of course I wanted the iconic picture with the carousel at the bottom.  I convinced one willing and one not so willing teenager to ride the carousel for my photos.

Even with some cloudy skies it was still very picturesque. 

It was nice weather to bundle up with a hat and scarf.

We did a walking tour we found online that starts up at the Sacre Couer and then you go around the back and wind your way through the neighborhood.

It was much less crowded around the back and such pretty views.

There is a tiny little grape field that is Paris oldest functioning winery.

Many of the restaurants are famous from Instagram and everyone wants to take pictures of them. 

We had booked reservations at this classic restaurant in an old windmill. We  ended up deciding it was a little too fancy for our taste and the timing of the reservation wasn't going to work. It was very beautiful though. 

You have to spend some time at the classic square where local artist are painting. It is so fun to watch and many of them have a lot of talent. 

We were chilly and a little hungry enough to need to get a crepe to share. We decided on lemon sugar and it was magnificent. 

After hours of wandering the neighborhood we decided to make our way to Bouillon restaurant. I had read a lot about it and it gets great reviews. 

There was a long line but it moves quickly and it is worth the wait. We all had starters. I went with classic french onion soup. Lily had artichoke hearts with a vinaigrette. Gem had chicken soup. Nobody had the snails which was so sad. For mains we had beef bourguignon, fish and chips, sausage and mash, and Pork shank with cabbage and beer.  We couldn't say no to dessert either. There was Iles flottantes, profiteroles, chocolate mousse and ice cream.

After our lovely meal we walked some more and headed to the Bibliotheque Nationale. The public library is part museum and part spectacular reading room. 

In the museum portion they had lots of random artifacts that I am not sure what they have to do with the library. The building was stunning and the art work was impressive. I was most intrigued by this painting. It is Louis XIV. I love the tights and heels and how he is lifting his skirt!

The reading room is huge and very impressive. It had several stories of book shelves surrounding it. I don't know who gets to access those. It would be an impressive place to do some reading although most of the people we saw were on  laptops.

After our long day adventure we headed back home for the night. 

Thanksgiving in St Germain

Thanksgiving day we had planned to go explore the St Germain neighborhood. This is across the Seine from the Notre Dame in the 6th arrondissement. We had reservations for brunch time at Les Deux Magots. It is a lovely little bistro and it was the perfect lunch. 

 

We shared club sandwiches and the charcuterie board. It was all so delicious. We didn't want to have too much for lunch because of course dessert was a famous chocolate chaud with chantily cream.

After our lunch we walked and shopped and wandered past Saint Sulpice Catholic church and then through the Jardin du Luxembourg.

The mini statue of liberte. 

The garden was beautiful and I loved all the last bits of Fall leaves. 

We did love the scenery and took plenty of photos. 

Then we walked over to see the Pantheon. I had been to see the pantheon in the past but I never went in (probably didn't want to pay the admission). 

It was actually really pretty and the crypt was very interesting. 

Wherever there is a bench we will find it. 

There are many famous French people buried in the crypts. Marie Curie and her husband were moved to lay in rest here. Lily did a wax museum report about her so we knew some interesting facts. There was also Victor Hugo and Alexander Dumas.

After plenty of exploring in the Pantheon we walked down to the Seine to get a view of Notre Dame and go to the famous Shakespeare  and Co book store.

They had a lot of great books and you can get them to stamp the first page as a souvenir. I went for one of my favorites and a classic I could keep. 

It was still early enough to be light out and see the Notre Dame. They are still working on repairs after the fire in 2019 but the front is repaired and scaffolding removed. 

We decided to stay at the river and walk a little ways to see the Eiffel Tower light up and sparkle at 6PM.

It was fun to see it from this viewpoint and the sparkle effect was really pretty. 

Everyone was cold and tired and ready to go rest so we made our way home for the evening. It was a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!