Our for real last day in Paris

On our for-real last day in Paris, we skipped our workout and had crepes and another long breakfast in the morning instead. Then we headed to the ever-famous Marche aux Fleurs for some eye candy. This flower market was amazing, and the fresh cut flowers were so inexpensive! Everywhere you look, in both Paris and Versailles, there are people walking with fresh, brown paper wrapped, bouquets of flowers...normally with a fresh baguette in the other hand.

After that, we really didn't have a thing in the world left to do except wander around. We decided to head back over to Notre Dame since we were close, and since it was sunny. It was drizzling when we were there the first time. And I mean, really, how often do you get the chance to sit and stare at THE Notre Dame?

 Then we hopped over the bridge to Le Marais, a historic area that we wanted to spend some time walking around. The shopping and food ended up being excellent, and it was one of my favorite areas in Paris. It seems like the small non-touristy areas always end up being our favorites when we travel for a variety of reasons.

We actually went in search of Berthillon, the best and most popular glacier (ice cream shop) in Paris according to Frommers. On the way, we got sidetracked by the flowers and the shopping and the food. We decided to try one of these open faced sandwiches, and it might be the best one we've ever had in our lives. It was gruyere and some other type of really strong cheese (heavenly) between two pieces of bread, with egg on top (they put egg on everything) and then more cheese, melted and browned to top it off.  If I wasn't headed to get ice cream, we would have gone back to buy a second one.

More gorgeous flowers on the streets of Le Marais.

Our guidebook said to expect a line outside of the ice cream shop, but we really didn't pay much attention. Um, apparently it's the best ice cream shop not just by Frommer's standards, but by everyone else's too. We waited in line for 20 minutes, and it was worth every second of it. 

THE line you want to be in.

Eric went with classic chocolate and vanilla...the most pure chocolate and the most natural vanilla I have ever tasted. I went with gingerbread (with chunks of gingerbread IN the ice cream) and a fresh blueberry, which was not really sweet and tasted more like the natural fruit. If you visit Paris, this place is a must.

Reminded us both of our favorite gelateria in Trastavere on our honeymoon in Italy last year...I'm not sure the little number below can EVER be topped. That was some concoction of coffee, nutella, and crema that we came up with. 

 My mouth is watering. That was right down the street from where we got the best canoli of our lives - warm crispy shell, and piped with fresh filling by a little old man who spoke absolutely no English while we watched. It was heavenly. But I digress.  This post is about Paris...although I really should blog about our honeymoon in Rome last year at some point. 


Anywho, after our ice cream, we did a good bit of shopping and bought a few trinkets for friends.  We bought some sketches for ourselves (we try to get at least one everywhere we travel) and we bought some white ceramic espresso-ware, and silver espresso spoons with hammered handles that matches our flatware at home. 

 We were hot and getting hungry at that point (I mean, we did a LOT of shopping and walking in the meantime all afternoon. Don't think all we do is eat haha), so we made our way back to our hotel to have some hor dourves and drinks(do you sense a trend here?) and had the concierge make us a reservation for dinner. I had the most wonderful asparagus with eggs and fresh, shaved parmesan on top. It's a traditional French dish that I really wanted to try while we were there. It was one of my favorite dishes that I had while on vacation, along the ranks of crepes in Versailles and my french onion soups. I honestly have no idea why we don't have pictures of our food from that night. Probably because we had a few more sips of wine than usual, and probably because we were seated next to a group of businessmen who really wanted to chat us up. One was a former attorney, but they ended up telling us after a while that they were in Paris working on the new Halo 2 video game. And then made us swear not to tell anyone. So shhhh, don't tell anyone :)


We had one last cafe and then, per usual, walked down to see the Arch de Triomphe one last time before going to our hotel. Right as we got to our normal park bench, the Eiffel Tower started its once-an-hour twinkling in the background. Folks, say what you will about the Eiffel Tower being cheesy, but it was the perfect cap on a perfect vacation. 

Back at the hotel and stuffed to the brim.

 
We woke up early the next morning and headed to the airport. I wiped down our trays and seats and anything that I might possibly touch with Clorox Wipes, and we were on our way back to the Sunshine State! Even though we were sad to leave, we were looking forward to getting back home...to where other people vacation!


I think ya'll are all caught up on our Parisian adventures! If you're planning a trip in the near future, please don't hesitate to email me for tips!