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Our last full day in Paris was relatively easy compared to the first two. We started at the Hotel des Invalides which is now the current resting place of Napoleon. Don’t let the “Hotel” in the name fool you. The large structure was built to house the wounded/crippled of those who served in battle. The church which is used for mass to this day was built in order to accommodate commoners and the elite without either of the two commingling. Behind the church is where Napoleon rests. It’s amazing how one person is so revered that he rests in such a massive sarcophagus.
After taking our pictures and strolling through a cute park we hopped back onto the Metro and headed towards the Marais District which is considered the Jewish town of Paris. To our surprise the area was actually filled with mid to high end stores which made the area quite popular amongst tourists. Although the shopping was tempting we had only one mission while in Marais… eat a falafel.
We walked around and found a small stand which was flooded with customers. From the conversations we overheard it was apparently the best falafel stand in the Marais
District. So rather than just walking down half a block and not waiting at what was probably the second best falafel stand in the Marais District we stood in line and waited 20 minutes for a falafel! Bobby ordered the “Falafel Traditional” while I ordered the “Falafel with Kefta.” So was it worth it…? “I cant believe we waited 20 minutes for this!” Let’s just say although it wasn’t bad, falafels aren’t anything we’ll be craving during the rest of our trip. There’s something about the cold vegetables and mushy eggplant that dampens the mood. Either way, we were satisfied with the fact that we at least tried it.
To my dismay Bobby convinced me to forgo siesta so we hung out at St. Germain to do some last minute shopping as it was one of the few Districts that likely had its stores still open during siesta. With a light breakfast, light lunch and no siesta, we were getting quite hungry and opted for an early dinner (7:00 pm). Unfortunately, our good fortune with weather had turned and it started to drizzle. I was definitely not pleased at the thought of walking through the rain especially since I
forgot my umbrella and refused to buy another. Bobby still wanted to see the Eiffel Tower at night and I grudgingly went along. While complaining about the cold and rain and just grumpy from pure exhaustion, we found a great spot away from tourists and quite a distance from the tower to take a couple of pictures. I thought that would have been enough - we got our pictures, we were even able to stay dry under a bridge while doing so… a logical person would have thought that meant we could go back to the hotel to pack and get ready for our early departure the next day. Apparently not. Bobby wanted to get closer to the tower. The complaining from me heightened tenfold. Surprisingly, the more I complained, the more persistent he became with getting to the base of the tower. I thought that if I continued to grumble, he‘d cave in, I‘d get my way and we‘d head back to the Metro Station. We continued toward the tower along the Siene River, away from the normal flow of tourists because of the unusual direction we were coming from. It (the tower) was indeed pretty with lights shining
at its wide base and following its curves up as the tower narrowed to the top. I began to take more pictures, playing with the different settings of my camera to figure out the best way to capture the image I saw. Bobby asked me to turn around, and the next thing I knew, I was looking at him bending down on one knee, smiling up at me and asking me to marry him. Needless to say, the first thing I did was laugh at him. All I thought was, after all my moaning and groaning, you want to marry me?? I continued to stare and laugh at him in disbelief. This move was completely unexpected. Poor Bobby had to ask a couple of times before I finally remembered that I wanted to say yes! My grouchiness immediately evaporated and transformed into giddiness. While the ring Bobby proposed with was made of sterling silver and CZ, I was glad he made the smart move of keeping the actual ring at home. We took our time walking over to the tower and spent some time admiring it once we got there. By the way, we discovered that the lights on the
Eiffel
The view from where Bobby proposed Eiffel Tower begin sparkling at around 11:00. That night and our time in Paris couldn’t have ended better.
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