Our final day in Paris!

The final day of vacation is always bitter sweet, but this time is more so than ever! OUI!!!

It is just passed midnight here in the 10th Arr. in northeast Paris, as I sit in my 6th floor apartment loft's round bed under the vaulted ceiling skylights that show through the bitter cold clear night the light of the top of the Eiffel Tower. As I peer through the skylight and watch the lighthouse-like beacon on the top of the Eiffel shinning across the city, across the chimney crowded rooftops, I ponder how a nine day get away went by so fast, and all that had transpired since we left Seattle the day after Christmas.
- Engagement at the Eiffel Tour on Tuesday...Noel said yes as the tour sparkled at sunset!
- Went up Eiffel Tower for the first time, to get off my bucket list since I had been to Paris 4 times below and refused...this on Wednesday...gulp...it was hazy but beautiful.

- Join birthday dinner for Heidi and Noel at Au Pied de Cochon on Wednesday...yum! - Surprise LIDO cabaret on the Champs-Elysees for Noel's 40th on Wednesday!

- Party at the Eiffel Tower in the 8th Arr. with the gang at Jo and Wes' hotel to ring in the New Year on Thursday!

- Under the Eiffel Tower with a bottle of Vueve Clicquot and love ones to welcome a NEW DECADE 12:01am Friday!

- Got locked in Pere Lachaise cemetary on New Years Day after dusk with the Spletzers...spooky and delicious!
- Had lunch at Cafe Deux Moulins, the restaurant from Amelie in Montmatre on Saturday! So fun!!!

- Amazing dinner at Robert & Louis' in the Marais for the Spletzers wedding present from Noel and I, and then in turn they bought a bottle of bubbly to celebrate our engagement, and last had Chip and Gordon from Chicago join us on Saturday!
- Ate at Marie Antoinette's farm in Versailles for lunch then had the most amazing Jewish falaffels in the Marais for dinner on Sunday!

- Saw some of my favorite artists throughout the week in some of my favorite museums! WOW!


Our final day started with with many disappointments since we all split up and found that nothing transpired. Heidi attempted her favorite craft store but it was closed on Mondays. Noel went to Julia Child's cookware store but it was closed for inventory. Andy went to the Paris catacombs but they were randomly closed with no explaination. As for Lori and I, we were to meet Noel at Les Halles mall to shop H&M and Zara among others before heading off to the museum. Well we found Noel but H&M was half empty and Zara had no mens...oh well.

We went to the Centre Pompidou at 11am when it opened. Outside of the amazing Orsay and Orangerie this is definitely some of my favorites since it is the modern museum housing Surrealism, Dadaism, Cubism, etc. Yes, I saw my Magritte, and Ledger, and Matisse, and Dali, and Picasso, and Delauney, and Ernst! Ahhh...LOVE!!! That was the 5th floor. The the 4th floor was art from the 1960's till today...and what an amazing modern collection of multi media, movies, fontography, and such. Finally the top floor, the 6th, had a special Surrealism in Photography exhibit which was amazing, along with a current French painter Solanges who is known for his black on black huge oils.

After art, Noel, Lori and I met up with Heidi and we all went to see Galeries Lafayette and Printemps. Lovely stores! Lafayette Gourmand floor was as amazing as London's Harrod's Food Hall. Heidi then went home to meet up with Andy and the three of us watched the sun set on Place Concorde and saw the Champs ferris wheel, Concorde obilisque and Eiffel Tower in the distance all glow before us. WOW!!! JE T'AIME PARIS!!! Once the sun set we were off to hit the rest of Noel's chocolate shops on his bucket list...so to the 7th Arr. we went...Latin Quarter. We actually found them, one with carved chocolate statutes from Rodin to Raphael's angels, and the other with a huge chocolate volcano and trees. What an art form. The first was famous for their Maker's Mark filled chocolate in which we partook.

Once home we all at what was left in the fridge: lots of cheese, fruit, champagne, pate, cornichons, tomatoes and the warm baguette we got on the way home. What a terrible dinner (NOT!) and then ended with many peices of different chocolates.

Time for sleepy now...must get up in 6 hours (though we have a 9 hour flight to sleep if need be). The flight back is weird, unlike coming to Paris where we lost a day, on the way back we leave at 11am and get to Seattle at the same time (9 hour flight, and 9 hour time change)...so odd!

One more look at the Eiffel Tower and then off to dream land in this beautiful city that I cannot wait to come back to already.

AU REVOIR PARIS! JE T'ADORE!