Our last full day in Paris sprung up to meet us, and we were not prepared!
The day began with the threat of rain. After two weeks of great weather, we couldn’t really complain about the two drizzly days at the end… could we?
We began our day with a walk to Montmartre, taking in everything on the way. We were saying goodbye to a beautiful city with every step we took.
Sacré-Cœur Basilica is an amazing place to view the city. From the top of the hill, all of Paris spreads out below you…
Just a few steps along the way to the top!
And, yes, of course we did the thing where the sinking house is sinking! The Sinking House of Montmartre is now officially famous…
Prior to this visit, it seemed there was always a service taking place in Sacré-Cœur. I had only ever been able to stand at the back and look into the church. For this visit, though, we had the entire church open to us!
I really got a sense of just how vast the basilica really was. Glad we chose this day to go.
We did a LOT of walking around on our last day. After we walked around up in Montmartre for a while, and stopped in a little restaurant for a petit-déjeuner while waiting out the rain, we walked back down the hill.
Another thing we decided to check off our list! Macarons in Paris. Where else to do this but Ladurée!
We decided to take our treasure to the river and find a place to sit down there…another last day goodbye! The Seine called out to us. But, first, a Bouquiniste along the way.
With the river at our feet and the Louvre in our sights, we found a nice place to sit and gaze about…
If you want to say goodbye to a city, you need to walk that city, go to its hearts, wander aimlessly like a flâneur. But you also need to take little breaks, stop and sit and watch the city go by about you…have a treat…
We watched the river for a bit, knowing we were leaving it for a very long time…if not forever.
After our snack, we were ready to continue our exploration and goodbyes.
Two weeks and we still hadn’t made our way to the pretty Square du Vert-Galant! We needed to remedy that. This is the pretty little park at the western tip of the Ile de la Cité…next to the Pont Neuf! Such a lovely spot.
Another must-do item on the bucket list was Tour Saint-Jacque. We kept missing out on it. The visiting hours are hard to nail down and possibly sporadic. Anyway, Michael said THIS IS THE DAY. And it was so…
Michael stayed behind, waiting at the bottom. I went with a small tour group. There are over 300 steps to the top of the tower and it’s a low narrow spiral staircase. A bit of a workout. You need to be fit to do this tour.
There is SO much to see on the way up!
Once you get to the top, that’s the real prize! It’s definitely one of THE best views of the city. I feel like I kept saying that no matter where we went, but this time…it was just spectacular! In every direction!
I was truly stunned by the spectacle of it. The entire city was just there! The skies had cleared and it was a perfect September day…and the city opened up!
I couldn’t get enough!
It was time to come back down to earth! Michael was waiting…and we had dinner plans!
It was time to say goodbye to Saint-Germain-des-Prés! But not before returning to one of our favourite restaurants and visiting the Church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés (Église de Saint-Germain-des-Prés).
I couldn’t decide if the church was gaudy or beautiful, but I suppose some things could be both. It reminded me a bit of Sainte-Chapelle, only without all the glass.
What did we choose for our last meal in Paris? The same place we chose for one of our first meals!
After dinner we walked back to the hotel, saying goodbye to everything we passed by.
There’s a saying, “We’ll always have Paris.” And we will. No matter how old we get, how far we go, how much we change or don’t change…Paris will always be with us. Like a big shiny diamond, glowing in our past. We might make it back one day, or we might never see it in person again. But it’s a part of us now. We’ll always have it.
To paraphrase Hemingway… “If you are lucky enough to have BEEN TO Paris AT ANY AGE, then wherever you go for the rest of your life it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.”
Yes, I bent that quote to my will! But it’s true.
This concludes our 2023 Paris journey. It was everything and more!
We might see it again…maybe. As Audrey Hepburn said, “Paris is always a good idea.”
“Au revoir Paris. Je t’aime.”
KEVIN CRAIG 