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The Honeymoon is Over
We didn't have much planned for this day. We thought maybe we'd do some shopping and pick up some souvenirs for friends and family. Our guidebook recommended shopping down by the Louvre, and Lin-Wei also thought that Napoleon's tomb was over there, so we set off for that area of the city. The shopping area stores were all closed that day (Sunday), so no presents for those back home. We didn't really plan on buying you anything anyway, so don't feel like you missed out.
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| The central island of Paris |
Lin-Wei also wanted to walk around the entire island that old Paris sat on, so we did that first. Next, over to the Louvre to find Napoleon's tomb. Through a break in the Louvre wall, Lin-Wei pointed to a build that she remembered as being Napoleon's tomb, so we headed over there, crossed the river, and tried to find the entrance. Noticing a conspicuous lack of tourism signs, we thought maybe we were close, but the entrance was around the side. We walked around to the side, and saw nothing. So we figured we'd walk around the whole building and try to find the entrance. This building was...um..about 2 blocks wide, and 3 blocks long. So it was quite a walk. We found no entrance, however, and ended up back where we started. It was then that we consulted the guidebook, whose pages held a most unwelcome surprise: Napoleon's tomb was about 2.5 miles away! We didn't have much to do that day, so we decided to walk it.
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| This honeymoon is really getting morbid now |
Arrived there, and got our tickets, and explored the tomb. Lots of cool artwork in there, and the tomb was huge! The guidebook makes mention that many critics found it funny that the tomb was so large for such a short man. After visiting the tomb, we spotted a restaurant across the street, so we stopped in for a quick lunch. However, we had probably stepped into one of the fanciest restaurants I had ever been in. I thought it looked nice, but a look at the menu told me that this restaurant was really nice. But what the heck? It was our last day in Paris, on our honeymoon, so we could splurge a little...er...a lot. I ordered wine, but my meal also came with a free Kir, so I was working the alcohol.
In the subway back to our hotel (for some rest), I saw an advertisement for Bistro Romain! That fricking place was a chain-restaurant! I couldn't believe it. After a rest, we took the metro down to the Bastille neighborhood. Our guide book had recommenced a Chinese restaurant here (ok, you remember the Bistro Romain? Yeah, we were going to stick with what we knew). We figured that it would be empty on a Sunday night, and we were right, but the maitre' de told me that they were booked up for the night. European dinners take over 2 hours usually, so it made sense that he would have to reserve the tables. So we apologized and started to leave, but he was really cool and told us that we could have a table if we could finish in an hour. Wait, did I hear that correctly? He was guaranteeing that we'd be done in a hour? Yes! We definitely accepted that offer. I did enjoy our long dinners on this trip, but it gets a little tiresome after a while.
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| Last night in Paris |
The food there was delicious. A terrific blend of French and Chinese cuisine. I won't even try to compare it to Bistro Romain. We finished eating in 52 minutes, but we had to decline dessert (that would have put us way over an hour), but the waiter seemed a little hurt by this. We got the check at 57min, and were out the door in 58min. Huzzah!
After dinner we got lost, got found again, and explored the Bastille neighborhood some more. Ate our last chocolate crepes, then took the metro back to the center of town, to walk hand-in-hand along the Seine. It was a nice way to end our honeymoon.
Departure
The next morning we crammed our selves and luggage into the elevator-tube, checked out, and took the Metro to the northern train station. A half-hour light-rail train trip and we were at Charles de Gaul international airport. After the train, we had to take a bus to our terminal, so we boarded said bus, got off at said terminal, and...freaked out. Our plane didn't leave from this terminal! Got back on the bus, but then there was a commotion. Some dude was getting booted off because he was rowdy, and he was throwing a tantrum. It was crazy, but I didn't care. I wanted to bus to move. Move it finally did, and now I was asking it to hurry for two reasons:
- So that I could go back home
- So I could get away from the awful stench of the guy next to me
Once we got to the correct terminal it was smooth, uh, flying. The flight back was uneventful, which is exactly how I like it. At O'Hare, our friend AndyM was there to take us back to Evanston (and promptly made up for two weeks of not being able to give me crap about my poker playing). At home, I wanted to sleep, but the rules state that, again, you must stay awake until 9:30pm under pain of death, and once again I complied.
The End
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Bye! Hope you had a good time! |
