Today we slept in a little then started strolling down one of the major streets toward the Bastille. About half way there we decided to take a cab so we knew we would have enough time to look at the structure before we had to head home. We needed to be back by 12:30 to meet Jessica. Well the cab dropped us off and we began looking for the Bastille. Apparently, they tore it down shortly after the beginning of the revolution in 1788. So we missed it by a few days.
We then walked back to the hotel grabbing sandwiches which we ate along the way.
Back at the hotel we met Jessica Appleby who would spend the balance of the day with us. She lives in Paris and teaches english to students while working on her second masters degree. She also has the advantage over us in speaking French since that was the topic of her first masters degree. Well any thought I had of how to pronounce things in French went out the window in the first ten minutes. She did a wonderful job of walking us around in the Latin Quarter showing us the sights. She was also very understanding of our naivete about all things French. I am sure we sounded like a couple of country bumpkins but she did not let on. She toured us through some beautiful parks and showed us some delightful little side streets chocked full of small unique shops and eateries. In fact. we had a snack in one of cafes along the way.
She took us to The Pantheon which is a Christian basilica that holds the tombs of important French patriots such as Victor Hugo, Alexander Dumas, Voltaire among many others. It is quite an amazing place. In the middle of the basilica suspended from the dome is Foucault's pendulum which was installed in the church in 1851.
Late in the day we met up with David, her boyfriend, who joined us for a stroll back toward the hotel where we found a little Italian restaurant and had a fabulous dinner together with them. Then back to the hotel to prepare for leaving in the morning to catch our train to Annecy tomorrow. This has been a great trip to Paris. We were able to see everything we wanted and had great weather to boot.
Chris - It was fabulous to spend most of the day with Jessica and dinner with David and Jessica!! It was great to see her so happy living in Paris. I had met David before in Cincinnati and loved meeting up with him again and getting a French perspective on things. Jessica and David certainly are a fabulous couple and were so gracious of their time and patience, we had a blast. One thing Paul failed to mention was the gelato we got along the way with Jessica, I put a picture of it above. You had to get two scoops (oh darn!) and they sculpted it to look like a flower. The initial scoop in the middle and the remaining scoop along the outside spread on like pedals. Very clever and extremely good gelato (warming up for Italy). Well, I ate my last Paris macaroon today....it was a fun ride!
Tomorrow - On to David's hometown of Annecy, which Linda says reminds her of the Bigfork area.
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