All Good Things...

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Sunday, the 25th of June

All good things must come to an end, unfortunately. We started today by meeting one of Erin’s old foreign-exchange students, Charlélie, at the Arc de Triomphe at 11:00. It was a rainy day off and on all day, but at least we weren’t riding in it again. We strolled down the Champs Elysees, eventually going to a unique restaurant that also was a technology showcase for Renault, of all things. We were meeting Charlélie’s parents there for lunch, and had a wonderful time catching up with him, and talking to his parents about all things under the sun. Of course, the topics that were the most fun were the ones that were slightly embarrassing for Charlélie! After our lunch we had a short tour through the technology center down below, which was quite interesting. Apparently, you can actually order your cars, or will shortly in the future, with an embedded scent that’s much better than the typical new car smell 😉 Charlélie’s parents then drove us down to the Seine where we bid goodbye to them, while Charlélie stayed with us as we hopped onto a tour boat on the tour line that Charlélie’s grandfather owns, for an hour tour down the river. We had a very nice narrated tour through the center of Paris and got to see a nice bit of it that we hadn’t before. We then hopped on the Metro to go tour Notre Dame. Notre Dame is an architectural masterpiece which took 200 years to build! The towering vaulted ceilings are amazing, and the stained glass indescribably beautiful. We toured through the inside while there was an active mass being held, which felt a little strange. We wanted to go up into the bell tower tour, but we were too late, not making last call for the line. Charlélie then took us on a walking tour through older areas of Paris that we’d have never seen had we been on our own. Eventually we settled down for another very nice French dinner at a small café in a lovely little square surrounded by small cafés. Instead of our normal “trois biere”, we decided to have “tres margaritas”, which were quite different than the states. Watching first Erin and then Margaret pucker up and shake their heads was very entertaining. They had a very high lime content and not enough sugar, so they definitely had you puckering. Eventually we wrapped up dinner, and headed back to the Metro, where we said farewell to Charlélie and headed back to the hotel, where we watched a little more World Cup (Portugal vs. Holland, this time, with Portugal victorious) before retiring for the evening. Tomorrow we have to be at the airport at 9:30, so no sleeping in like we did today. We’ll be sorry to bid “adieu” to Europe, but we’re still looking forward to returning home to family, friends, and real Mexican food 😉

Once we get back to the states and I’ve added the rest of the highlight pictures to the blog and have a link to the full gallery of pictures, I’ll post another blog entry.
Until next time! - Jesse

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