P A R I S
With ponchos at the ready and a bittersweet feeling budding in our hearts, we walked through rainy, moody, Paris knowing we were nearing the finale of our trip.
"Paris needs no reason. Paris is it's own reason."
Beautiful street fronts everywhere.
A historic cinema.
Our Parisian guide, Elizabeth.
Give me liberty or give me-croissants! Same thing.
Iconic Notre Dame.
Our group learning to master the Metro!
Roses just look better in Paris.
Rick, if you're reading this, hi, I love you.
You know we had to! The Eiffel Tower was not included in this trip, but a lot of us made it happen anyway. With our friends Linda & Li, we hopped on the Metro and headed for this French Icon. We stared, ooed & ahhed, took some pictures, then got back on the Metro in the direction of the Arc de Triomphe!
Ooh, la, Louvre!
Another rainy day in Paris.
We finally got everyone in our group to ditch their smartphones and engage in the joy of reading a map! Just kidding. The Louvre is so massive it has it's own maps.
Crying in the Louvre was not on my bingo card for 2024. Because of our post-trip plans, we would be leaving our group a little sooner than the rest of the gang, so this is where we said goodbye, in the middle of the Louvre. We're less than half a mile away from the Mona Lisa and i'm in a bathroom stall crying my eyes out grieving the end of the little family we'd built. Two weeks together in Europe can do that to a group of strangers.
We found it so interesting that there was a massive mob of people pressed together and slowly shuffling in order to get a closer look at the Mona Lisa when the wall opposite was boasting the impressive painting below.
With pain au chocolat to ease the pain, (i'm sorry I had to) we wandered through Paris on our own. We found the Luxembourg Gardens, a delightful cafe, and a fire station where Henry was able to meet more French firefighters and trade patches.
Well dadgum. Our French finale...it's here. I have so many words for why we will never forget or regret our Rick Steve's Europe trip, and I will shout them from the rooftops of the Arc de Triomphe, St. Peter's Dome, or that closed-on-Tuesdays-restaurant in Murren. One of the huge reasons why was our guide, Stephanie, and the amazing people in our group whom we said goodbye to in Paris. For now, let's grab a cappuccino and board the train to Giverny. We deserve a little French countryside, don't we?
