Paris, Part Deux

Continued from Part Un.

The next morning, Phil, David and I went to the Louvre, which was way too crowded, but so, so wonderful. Afterward, we met the girls at Notre Dame, which was also way too crowded and I didn't even see any hunchbacks singing from the tower so, kind of a bust. From there, David and I popped over to the Left Bank to do a little Hemingway tour, which made me entirely happy, and then we subway-ed over to Montmartre again to check out the views atop Sacre Couer and to eat dinner at a fantastic little place called Le Pomponette which, if you're ever in Paris, GO TO THERE.

The Louvre.

Notre Dame.

Inside the cathedral.

A little bird friend we met while waiting for the girls.

Exploring the Left Bank.

HEMINGWAY WROTE HERE. I was dying. 

Treasure hunting at the stands along the Seine. 

 Outside Sacre Couer.

The view from atop Sacre Couer. 

Walking to the restaurant, we found a mime!

Our third full day in Paris was sort of a giant fail. The idea was to rent cars to go to Giverny, so Phil, David and I went to the rental place, spent a few hours there in confusion, and left with no cars. Plan B was the Catacombes. We stood in line for part of the morning and most of the afternoon and then they closed right when we got to the front of the line. Boo.

But even though our plans fell through, the food was FANTASTIC. We had delicious sandwiches at a bakery near the Catacombes. Then David and I made a run to a Portuguese bakery near the Pompidou Center for some mind-blowing pasteis de Belem. After the Catacombes fell through, we split up, sending one group each to Laduree and Pierre Herme to pick up a variety of macaroons so we could have a taste test and decide a winner for ourselves. Verdict: I think Pierre Herme was a bit better, except in the caramel category, which Laduree trumped by virtue of having an actual caramel inside. Be still my heart. 

For dinner, we went to a little place by our apartment with the pushiest waiter in the world. I ate most of an entire cow in the form of a delicious peppercorn steak. Really, the steak was the size of my head. So much steak. So, so good.

Besides the food being great, we also made it to Luxembourg Gardens, where we lounged and pushed miniature boats around the lake. It's quite possible that Paris couldn't get any better than it is. I could eat it. Probably it would taste like butter.

Waiting outside the Catacombes.

 Luxembourg Gardens.

 On our macaroon errand.

Laduree. 

Pierre Herme. 

Our last day in Paris was much more successful than the one before it. We successfully rented cars and successfully maneuvered them through nonsensical traffic to get to the Catacombes—and when I say "we", I really mean David, who is the actual coolest person in the world. On our second try, we got inside the Catacombes, and then drove off to Giverny to explore Monet's garden, which was rainy and lovely and perfect.

Even though our trip included paragliding, I'm going to say the most thrilling part of the whole thing was trying to avoid driving through the Rond-Point of the Arc de Triomphe. That roundabout is a lane-less beast and even though I kind of wanted to drive through it, just to see if we could, I was also pretty sure we would end up crashing the car, or just parking it in the middle of traffic while we all sat inside and wept. On the way back from Giverny, we got stuck in terrible traffic that was leading us right into the belly of the beast. We got about a block away from the roundabout when David yelled, "I'm not going in there!" and like some cross between John Wayne and Vin Diesel somehow maneuvers through five lanes of cars, perpendicular to traffic, to make a right turn and get us on another street. And in the car behind us, Phil, like the father of the John Wayne-Vin Diesel mix, followed him. I was very impressed with the Bowman men.

When we finally got safely back, we went to the top of the Arc de Triomphe for a final look at the city and then went home to pack and eat more pizza.

 The Catacombes.

Giverny.

David took one hundred million pictures of flowers:

 Views from the Arc de Triomphe.