last day in paris

we started out our final day in the city of lights by visiting our favorite breakfast place -- we dined there every morning. we learned about it from rick steves, of course (one more shout out to how we could NOT have had such a fabulous trip without his help).

we found this tiny diner on rue cler, just around the corner from our hotel, who gave a special "american breakfast" deal to rick steves readers: orange juice, the best hot chocolate of my LIFE, ham, an egg, bread basket and a croissant. yum! the same waitress was there all three times so we became friends with her quickly. how i would love to be a parisian local and become a regular at a place like that.

then we headed out for the arch de triomphe.







it was cool to see this massive, famous monument and think of all the history it has seen. it was commissioned by napoleon, finished for his funeral march, stood watch while the nazis marched down the champs-elysees after taking over paris, etc. etc. it was definitely an intimidating piece of architecture.

here's the eternal flame:



then we hiked up 370-something MORE stairs. seriously, thanks to all the stairs in paris, i was able to guiltlessly enjoy my daily croissant :)



awesome views from the top:

next we walked down the champs-elysees, which wasn't quite as exciting as i had hoped. i felt like i was in nyc or something, surrounded by the disney store, virgin, billabong, coach, etc.

looking back toward the arch from the opposite end of the champs-elysees:

at the opposite end of the street, there's a big obelisk in a roundabout. this is where the guillotine was stationed during the french revolution. cooool.

we ate more crepes and enjoyed another beautiful paris morning.

and then we headed off to versailles. this palace, built for king louis xiv, had always intrigued me because my dad was fascinated by it on his previous travels to france and had told us all about it. it's located about 20 km outside the city in its own little touristy town.

for some reason i had assumed all these famous locations like versailles, dachau, etc. would be located out in the dust, far from civilization. i had read that during its operation dachau was surrounded by a mile-wide border to prevent people from entering, so i just figured it would still be like that. same with versailles -- why couldn't it be a nice little palace out in the country? ha. then i realized that consumerism is thriving even in europe. why put something in the dust when it can be surrounded by gift shops? versailles was a five minute walk through town from the train station.

hard to convey in pictures the magnitude and elaborate details of this place -- it did not disappoint. it was HUGE, covered in gold, and everything you'd ever hope a palace would be.

i loved the famous hall of mirrors:

one thing i found a little odd -- the palace was currently featuring artist jeff koons with displays throughout the living quarters. his stuff was cool i guess, but definitely took away from the amazing rooms. case in point:

which thing does not belong? uh, yeah. another room featured the famous "michael jackson and bubbles" sculpture i remembered from art history. not quite sure i'd choose to include that with versailles, but maybe i don't know enough about art.

we only made it through three rooms before an alarm went off and we were ushered outside. i never did find out what happened, but we were allowed back inside 20 minutes later. we explored the gardens and the outside a bit:

and then we rode the train back! that night we had our last dinner in rue cler, out on the sidewalk watching the city go by. that was also the night we went to the top of the eiffel tour; definitely a great way to end our stay in paris and our magnificent trip.

the next morning we packed up, took a train to frankfurt, bought a ridiculous amount of german chocolate and got on our plane home. i was sad that our vacation had finally come to an end, but it was SO NICE to come back home. never have i been so glad to see my own bed, my own apartment, palm trees, pasadena, friends, family. our european adventure was everything i had hoped for and more...but i do love being home :)