Our Last Day in Paris

July 9th

It's always bitter sweet to spend our last day in Paris before we leave France to head back to our real lives.  We were pretty much packed up so we had some free time to visit one last museum that we hadn't been to before.  Today's visit was to the Army Museum...The Musée de l'Armée which is the national military museum of France located at Les Invalides.  The building and gardens are impressive enough but we soldiered on (pun intended) and purchased the audio guide to see what we could learn. There was so much history in the place that was originally built to house veterans and wounded soldiers.  There's a section on the Independence of France, a lot about General de Gaulle, displays of old armer and weapons, big cannons all over, etc.  The Dome section holds the tomb of Napoleon and the church of the soldiers.  It was quite overwhelming and we spent several hours there.

Napoleon's Tomb

Le Souffle Restaurant was a favorite of Jay's parents so we made a reservation for our last night. We had a wonderful dinner here last year as well and it was a great way to close out our trip. The servers are super friendly and the souffles are always perfectly done.  It's a wonder they never fall until you poke the middle to add your sauces.  

We will miss being in France but have already scheduled our trip back next May!

Secrets in Paris

July 8th

There are "secret" covered passages in Paris and in years past we discovered a few on a dedicated walking tour from the Tourist Information Center but there are many more that just pop up out of nowhere.  Like today as we walked along we found several we had never seen before. It's such fun to find the little secrets of Paris.  One of them is the restaurant Combo on Rue Dauphine.  Our friends recommended it and we went twice in May and then again tonight because it has the most delicious magret canard (duck breast) as well as other wonderful choices at such a reasonable price.  The servers remembered us and even teased us about ordering the same thing every time we are there.  The waiter gave us very generous wine pours so I guess they really like us.😂

Can't resist a walk by the Louvre

  

 

The entrance to Combo

Jay's pour on the left...what?

Incredible Duck Breast

A Walking Tour with Annie

July 7th

The Marais is probably the oldest neighborhood in Paris and we have walked through many times, have had dinner at a wonderful restaurant there as well but really didn't know a lot about this area.  This time we decided to learn a bit more and did the walking tour on VoiceMap with Annie Sargent from Join Us in France.  Annie is a well informed historian of France and of many neighborhoods in Paris.  When in Paris I highly recommend a walking tour of hers.  We have done two and both were excellent and we plan to do more.

This tour will take you to the Hôtel de Sens, Fortifications from the Middle Ages, Hôtel de Beauvais, Houses from the Middle Ages, Saint-Paul Saint-Louis Church, Hotel de Sully, Place des Vosges, Shopping district, Jewish district, Musée Carnavalet, Rue des Rosiers, Hôtel d'Hérouet and the Archives Nationales.  Annie has great stories to tell along the way.  One caveat is that her tour was done a few years ago and she mentions that the Musée Carnavalet is closed for renovations.  It has reopened and is fantastic!

The tour begins at the Pont Marie

A restaurant we have been to many times

One of the oldest houses in Paris

Saint-Paul Saint-Louis Church

Place de Voges where Victor Hugo lived

King Louis XIII

One of the oldest libraries in Paris

Gardens at the National Archives

The National Archives

A building where the Knights Templer met

After our walk about we stopped into Saint Eustache for the organ concert.  Beautiful organ performance and amazing acoustics in such a massive space.  We were in the back near the pipes and Jay's Apple Watch registered 87 decibels.😬

Dinner down the way at Eataly was excellent.  Jay had pizza but I had the tagliatelle with truffle sauce...yum!  The wine and limoncello weren't too bad either!