Day 15: Paris, France

Today is a random wandering day. It's our last full day in europe and I feel like I've gotten the hang of things. Growing up not using public transportation is the main hurdle to get over for me when I'm traveling. Overall, I enjoyed riding the tube and the metro is simply a means to an end. It's a maze and extremely smelly and dirty. In London you'd smell BO sometimes, but in Paris it's a societal hazard. Unfortunately I've picked up a cold- doesn't help that we've experienced extreme weather change from Edinburgh to Paris. I'd highly recommend coming in the fall or early spring to have better weather, less people, and less bo :) Even so, it's still been a great trip and I'd consider it a success, especially with us planning it so quickly. Even with the terrorist activity in Nice, you wouldn't know anything happened walking around Paris except the increase in militarized police around public landmarks 2 days after we got here. People live their lives as usual. Today we asked the hotel employees about the famous flea market on the northside of the city (les puces). It's a weekend thing, but I was hoping some of it was open during the week. They said it might be so we decided to try. We took a metro all the way to the outer rim of Paris and find our way there. Mistake. It was a ghost town and extremely dirty and poor. Not a good area to be, especially the route the website told us to go. The flea market would be fantastic, but lesson learned- go on the weekend and go to the porte de clignancourt metro stop, not the one on the website. We get back on the metro and go to the marais neighborhood. It has lots of shopping and independent stores that wind through the streets. We start with the Le BHV which is the Parisian department store and we're the only Americans- love. I purchase a gold eiffel tower without any words on it which has proven difficult. We start popping into shops here and there and I'm astounded with how many stores and bistros there are and with so few tourists. When tourists come we're under the impression that they come for 2-3 days (because our hotel staff is surprised and think it's great we're staying for a whole week). If you come for a short time, you're more likely to visit the few big spots- eiffel tower, louvre, notre dame, champs-elyses, and sacre-couer- and if that's you're only taste of Paris, you'll have a very limited and perhaps bad impression of Paris. I can definitely understand how one could either love or hate this city. We've enjoyed our trip and although I don't see Paris with rose-colored glasses, it's a great city. And that's something you have to keep in mind... it's a city and city's have the best and the worst sorts of people. In strolling a single street, I can begin with hating it, then love it, then feeling relatively indifferent towards it. But I digress.

Despite walking by so many stores, I've only purchased a little gold eiffel and a 3 scoop lemon, strawberry, mango sorbet. When I'm almost ready to return to our hotel, I spot a perfumerie and try a musk and fall in love. Finally, something to bring home for me that isn't edible. We take the metro back to shower and rest before our night out.

I had the best dinner of my life tonight. I'd heard about a restaurant through a French cook blogger named Mimi Thorisson called L'Ami Jean (my friend john). It was her favorite restaurant and so I trusted her with my last night in Europe and I'm so glad I did. This experience made the trip. It's a small, unassuming space that isn't at all pretentious or white cloth. They immediately call us the Walker Texas Rangers when we walk in and one of the staff is embarrassed. I think it's cute. It's so small that they have to slide the table out to let you in and you can see and hear the chef (Stephano) cooking and preparing your food with the sous, saute, and pastry chefs. It's loud and lovely with the chef yelling things and clapping his hands when food is ready to go saying ala, ala, ala (let's go!). Our waiter speaks perfect English and we come early (730) once again so he can accomodate Joel's allergies. We get the prix-fix menu (7 courses!) and tuck in.

1. Cold lobster soup with deliciousness at the bottom (I pop a lactase pill)
2. Risotto with toasted buckwheat
3. Quail breast with mushroom cappuccino (favorite)
4. Rare salmon
5. Pork and cod
6. Veal cheek and sweetbreads (trust the chef)
7. Sheep cheese with black cherry jam (I pop another lactase pill)
8. Rice pudding with vanilla glace and salted caramel mousse and toastes nuts and a lemon sorbet with candied cumquats and chocolate pudding (wow)

Seriously, if you love food, eat here and you will have the best dinner of your life. If you don't love food, eat here anyways, and you will by the 2nd course. We enjoyed the interaction, watching the small staff literally run back and forth from the tables and watching the chef kiss babies and give them wooden spoon keepsakes. I could go on.

We walk a block to the eiffel tower and it's glittering it's lights. I'm happy. We do a night boat cruise an hour long (included in our Paris pass), the weather is cool, the buildings are beautifully lit, and Paris out playing on the banks of the Seine. There are picnics, tangos, marengue, and salsas going on the whole way down and back. We metro back and despite sniffling and sneezing, we've ended our trip with a bang.Read more