Le Finale de Paris

Bonsoir tout le monde!

I am writing from our hotel room in the 18eme quartier de Paris, which, according to a lady we met on the street, is not the nicest part of town. That is okay though, we fit right in--what with having our laundry hanging to dry from our balcony and so on.

There has been so much to write about Paris that I have lost track of what I have already told you in detail.

The most memorable and beautiful parts of Paris has been the Jardin du Luxembourg. When I was in a French class at PCC, we watched these little films in which a couple met every day at the Jardin du Luxembourg. I remember thinking how beautiful it was, so when I saw it on the map I insisted that we go.

The moment we stepped in, we were overjoyed. Everywhere there were French people on their three-hour lunch break, sitting in the shade or tanning in the sun. Everything was green, and a children's band was playing music from the Lion King on a stage, and the music filled the enormous park. Tourists slowly meandered among the trees with their trigger fingers poised above their camera button, which would be taking a photograph if the tourists weren't slack-jawed at the beautiful scenery.

We approached a clearing in the trees to find a magnificent cement-rimmed pond filled with fish who were the luckiest living things in the excruciatingly hot garden. Just like in the videos I watched in French class, children were pushing toy sailboats into the middle of the pond. When we turned to our right, we found the most beautiful Palais du Luxembourg. It was huge and overlooked the pond and the expansive garden.

After walking around in the heat for so long, Collin and I sat in the shade and watched some men play tennis on the courts in the garden. We were very reluctant to leave, but we still had to see Notre Dame.

After an eye-full of le Jardin du Luxembourg, Notre Dame was a little underwhelming. It was huge, and beautiful, but the gray walls couldn't hold a candle to the beautiful colors in the garden. We snapped a few photos and went on our way.

I wanted to blog right when we came back from that day trip because I was so excited about the garden, but Collin reminded me that the day was not over.

After a an afternoon break, which was fabulous because we were so hot after walking around in the blistering heat all midday, we decided to go to Pont Neuf. I had read about this bridge in one of the travel guides, and it is supposed to be one of the most romantic places in the city after dark.

Well it doesn't get dark here until around 10:30 or 11, so when we arrived at 8:45, we had some time to kill. After leisurely walking down the Seine and still having daylight to spare, it was the perfect opportunity to sit at one of the sidewalk cafes, face the street, sip un cafe au lait, and watch Paris bustle by until it was dark enough to enjoy the Seine and the Pont Neuf.

When it was finally time to go to the bridge, we got up and moved toward our destination. It was breath-taking. The colors in the sky were gorgeous purples and the view was of the Seine with the Eiffel Tower in the background. It was romantic, but for the most part, the bridge was lined with families and girl friends passing the time before hitting the bars. Collin and I didn't miss an opportunity to kiss in one of the most romantic places in Paris, however!

After we moved on, we saw a woman dressed as a sheep who was dancing in one of the alcoves on the bridge. "She must do that because she really loves it," Collin said. I am sure she doesn't make much in that line of work, but we sure appreciated it.

When we were done with our romantic endeavor, we decided to head back, but our bus had stopped running, so we thought it would be just a quick walk. It wasn't. We must have walked for an hour and a half, and although our feet were hurting, we were walking down the streets of Paris on a Friday night. We got to look at every thing we passed, watch the people do their Friday-night thing, stop to get a Coca-Light (Diet Coke) and hone our map-reading skills.

After all of this walking in a Paris that is hotter than we ever imagined it would be, we took probably 5 cold showers apiece over the last few days. It's just disgusting and the first thing you want to do is find some cool relief.

It's inevitable. Paris is just romantic. The buildings are beautiful, the food is to die for, the pace is slow, the women are gorgeous, the men even prettier, and the perfect end to a sweltering day is a cool shower and sleeping in fresh sheets.

I don't think we could have had a more Parisian experience.