What Parisians Do Well!Food: A+ They know how to cook it, bake it, present it and sell it. Fashion: A-Parisians have an understated elegance with quality shoes and high end handbags. Unfortunatly right now Parisians love "le sneaker". They wear bright coloured Nikes with high clothing. No offence, this just doesn't work. Maintain a beautiful city: A+From the areas I visited, Paris is one of the cleanest cities I have ever been to. Despite the fact that is full of people and many activities, it always looks great. Paris also has some very old architecture which is so well preserved. This great city is also filled with gardens and beautiful parks which are well maintained. What Parisians don't do well!Road Saftey: C-I have never in my life seen such bad and dangerous driving. Not only do they drive extremely fast but they park so close together. I saw many cars touching another car's bumper. As a pedestrian you have to keep your wits about you. And just to add to this recklessness, no one wears a helmet as they weave in and out of traffic on their bicycles. Public Bathrooms: C+Most washrooms in Paris are for men and women. I don't know about you but I was not 100% comfortable with a man right beside me in the next stall. The Smoke: B-Its very common in Europe for people to smoke but because the restaurants are all open to the outside the smoke is everywhere. Even if you don't smoke you're constantly surrounded by it.
It was our last morning here in Paris so we woke up early and toured around one last time. We started off with breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien then walked around ....We finished off by going to the Rodin's Garden which is a garden full of beautiful sculptures done by August Rodin. Then we hopped on the train and went to Brussels.
Today was our last full day in Paris. We started off with breakfast at Café Constant walked under the Eiffel Tower and over the bridge to the Arc de Triomphe! We then headed down the Champs Elyssées and shopped! We stopped at the McDonalds to use the washroom and I was shocked to see how popular it is. Every seat was taken and people were waiting for tables. One weird thing in Paris is that men and women use the same washroom. We continued on to the Place de la Concorde. This monument was erected where over 2,000 people were beheaded during the French Revolution (Marie Antoinette was one). We ended our day by buying our picnic dinner at La Grand Epicerie and visiting the Eiffel Tower for the last time.
Paris je vais te manquer, Tori While I've been here in Paris I've noticed that most Parisians bring their pets everywhere. They do this because most Parisian restaurants and stores are accessible to pets. So here are a couple photos of pets in Paris that I've taken, secretly...Pets go almost everywhere, even big fashion stores. But the best parisian pet I have seen in Paris was a cat being walked on a leash by an older lady, she said the cat needed exercise.
We took the plane to Montreal and then the big flight to Brussels. The flight was about 7 hours from Montreal to Brussels. It was not my favourite thing. It was squishy, hot and the food was interesting. I tried to sleep during the flight but I couldn't. As we were entering the plane to Brussels we walked past first class...that was sad...the comfy chairs with private little walls around you. However the flight was worth it. We finally arrived, unpacked our bags at the visitors house where we are staying and I had a long 2 hour nap. Not long enough but it helped. The weather in Brussels was rainy and not so nice but we trudged on to the train station where we caught the train to Paris!!! Paris is beautiful, the weather is perfect and the sun is shinning. We are staying at a cute little hotel called Hotel Muguet. We went for dinner at a small place called Le Petit Cler and we stayed there for hours. It is very typical in Europe to take your time while eating. We ended the night by walking around the 7e which is a little neighbourhood and we saw the Eiffel Tower. Bonne nuit! Tori |