Euchre au Jardin du Luxembourg

Today began with a visit to the Palais Garnier which is the National Opera House in Paris. I'm not positive if shows are still performed there, but I believe that some are! The building is breathtaking and the hall of mirrors on the top floor rivals that of Versailles. We then went to a place whose name I can't remember to get some of their world famous macaroons but we were not allowed to take pictures of them. The macaroons however were phenomenal. There were some traditional flavors, like dark chocolate and salted caramel, but there were also untraditional flavors like milk chocolate-passion fruit, or mango-grapefruit-orange. One of my favorites was a raspberry-something else with a yogurt filling. We then had lunch Au Petit Suisse, on the recommendation of my cousin Toby, which was excellent. Ellie finally got her croque-monsieur!

The cafe was directly across from the Jardin du Luxembourg, which is absolutely gorgeous. We found some shade and some chairs so we were able to play a game of euchre! Ellie and Aunt Jen won, but it was a close game. Without really knowing what we were getting into , we walked over to the Parthenon and saw the graves of Voltaire, Rouseau, Emile Zola, and both of the Curies! (Mom was disappointed that Maries's tomb wasn't glowing with radiation). Voltaire and Rouseau's tombs were directly across from each other which is ironic because they were sworn enemies while they were alive.

The Latin Quarter was as busy as ever with tour groups and huge charter buses that should not be able to navigate the streets of Paris. The bookstore, Shakespeare and Company, was equally packed but if there were less people there, I would've loved to sit and browse the store for hours. The walls were entirely covered with books, floor to ceiling. There were new books from current authors, there were classic books and there were ancient books. I would love to spend the day tucked into one of the corners of the little store browsing through all that they had.

After some shopping, we metroed to the Arc de Triomphe where we were able to get to the arch, but not under because there was a ceremony that I didn't really understand going on. Directly in the middle is an everlasting flame for their tomb of the unknown soldier so I'm not sure what ceremony was happening there, but it was very busy. We walked down the Champs-Elysées for a while, did some more shopping, and watched as they began setting up for the parade for Basille Day on Tuesday. Finally, we metroed back to Montmartre where we picked up some food to eat with the rest of the leftovers we have in the house and just had an early night in. It doesn't feel like we do that much during a day, but then we get back to the apartment and I can't figure out why I'm exhausted. But after blogging like this about each day, we pack a lot in and are taking advantage of every hour we have.

Today is our last day in Paris before we fly out tomorrow morning :(