France 2023 - Day 15 & 16 / Paris

Steps today : 24 033 / 15.84 km

Last full day! And it wasn't the best one. I think we were both exhausted and ready to end it.

We started with breakfast at the Brasserie Le Flore en l'Île. I've been many times over the years and have always liked it, but this time there was something off about it. Could it be because it was raining again? or the old view of  Notre Dame is now just a crap view of a construction zone? Or the sadness of it being the last day? I don't know.

Another reason why I picked this place was because it was near Notre Dame and I wanted to read the panels that had been put up all around it. It was like a little exhibit about the fire and restauration work, really interesting. I whizzed passed them quickly when I was there last spring, but I wanted to take my time now to read them more in detail. 

Next, I wanted to revisit the Musée des Plans-Reliefs. The walk to the museum (which in the Invalids) from Notre Dame is only about 40-Google minutes. My preference is to walk when possible because you can see so many details in the city, but because we stopped to take so many pictures, the walk was almost an hour and a half which did my mother in.

This museum of fortified towns relief maps impressed me very much when I saw it the first time, but I couldn't get good pictures at the time because of the low light. I was looking forward to trying again with my better phone-cam, but the experience was a flop. Ah well, it was free since it was included in the pass so all I lost was about 30 minutes of my time.

Next was the National Museum of French Monuments. My head was on a swivel the entire time and I do not recommend a visit if you can't crane your neck. If fact, I was back to back with another tourist and we had quite a painful head but. The kind you feel in your nose. Ouch!

Lunch was a total write off, I regret it. It wasn't good, wasn't a yummy French treat and wasn't worthy of a vacation meal. Now I really know how my mother felt when she hated her crêpe the other day!

We took a stroll around the Trocadero and Eiffel Tower, but the crowds were grating on our already fragile nerves, so we didn't linger.

To make up for the disappointment that was lunch, we stopped in here where I purposely had some of my favourites: Montbazillac and Saint-Marcellin.  Totally worth it.

When we done, a little before 4PM, we decided to go to the Rodin Museum. It was very crowded there too and my mom and I were just saturated. We were both getting cranky.

We enjoyed the museum, but like at the Louvre, we were happy to leave.

We headed back to the hotel so my mom could take a micro nap, then headed out to find a place for our last supper in Paris.

I normally like something more celebratory to commemorate the vacation, but we were exhausted and cranky and I didn't even have a glass of wine.  The Croque was delicious though.

We were back at the hotel around 7:30 and it was time to pack our bags and argue about where to have breakfast the next morning.

I wanted something more "hoorah!" for a vacation send-off, especially because I felt I missed out on it tonight. My mom was fed up, done, baked, finished, over, and exhausted and didn't even want to entertain the idea of going anywhere any more.

I suggested Café de Flore, she countered with the hotel breakfast...  we were miles apart.

The next morning, I dragged her out. The idea of the hotel breakfast was out of the question anyway because in this place you have to tell them the night before if you are staying in for breakfast.

We did go to Café de Flore and you know what: she LOVED it! and repeatedly said she was glad it worked out that way.  I think after a night of restorative sleep, she found the motivation and also bought into the idea of a "send off meal". 

The dishes amused me, they REALLY want you to know where you are eating.

After this, it was time to check out and trek to airport....

Great vacation - can't wait for the next one!