Day seven of Paris was filled with walking slowly down the streets -- taking in our last days here and also giving our tired feet a rest. Our main attractions were the Luxembourg Gardens and food. So we started the day off a little more slowly -- taking a few pictures in our hotel room with clear skies and enjoying another continental breakfast.
We took the metro out for the day with our first stop at Le Relais De Venise Son Entrecote for lunch. I had found the restaurant via a random post on Instagram and it was so so so so good.
They serve steak frites and only steak frites. There is no menu, no prices, just one item that they bring out to you. And it was absolutely amazing. You sit there and they bring out the food. And then when you are done they bring out a second serving! A French woman comes out with a large platter of food and starts dishing it out to everyone like we are having a big family dinner together. It was pretty spectacular. I can't even get over that gravy.
We devoured our food (more me than Brent) and enjoyed lunch with a view. For such a simple (yet delicious) meal, it was really expensive. I had my heart set on this place so it wasn't a big deal. But it was the most expensive meal we had in Paris.
We went with a sampler of sweets and espresso for dessert to wash it all down.
See, there's the French woman, dishing out steak frites goodness.
After lunch we headed to the Luxembourg Gardens. We came off of a side street where our first view was the sweetest group of French men playing bocce ball.
And then we turned the corner to see a walking group warming up with their walking sticks! Of all the places we visited while in Paris, this was one of my favorite people watching places. Just your average Tuesday afternoon of games in the park!
The parks in Paris were so interesting to see and really kid friendly. You had to pay to get in but they had some of the coolest setups. And I was the creeper taking pictures of children at the park!
I loved that the bocce ball players had coat racks to hang their jackets!
One of the greatest experiences we had on this trip was seeing how people lived differently. While they make walk fast, things seemed to move at a slower pace. We appreciated the simpleness of everyday life that we desired to remember and take home with us.
We were a few days late, but we had bought French anniversary cards that we wrote in and gave to one another while we were here.
Just around the corner we found another group of men playing chess!
The gardens were spectacular and it was so fun to sit and people watch. It was quite the beautiful little scene.
We packed a little lunch with us that was picked up at the store.
We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the streets of Paris, poking our heads into little shops.
We stopped in at Pierre Herme to taste test their macarons. While delicious, I still preferred the simpler flavors from Laduree.
Throughout our stay I kept an eye out for reasonably priced Parisian inspired gifts for family. But it ended up being surprisingly difficult as things were either really cheap and made outside of Paris or crazy expensive. I did a brief search online for recommendations and didn't really get anywhere. But later on that day when we walked by Diwali, I saw the familiar blue store I remembered seeing in my search. We had found the mother ship.
Reasonably priced scarves that are actually made in Paris! Who would have thought!? And some of them even had tags that said Diwali Paris. Perfection.
After seeing a few kids walking around eating flower shaped gelato, we had to get our own.
We stopped in for one more baguette and hit a grocery store for some food for dinner.
And to no surprise, we ended another night at the Eiffel Tower. The large grass section in front of the Eiffel Tower had been closed off our entire trip so far. It finally was opened up that night so we took the opportunity to get some photos in.
Are you ready for this?! This is the truth behind our beautiful photos. Me kicking Brent and him spilling his drink! This makes me laugh so hard. You can pin that if you want.
Okay, okay. That's better. Poor husband.
We tried to make it to the Arc de Triomphe to go to the top but we did not make it in time. Apparently they shut down the elevator an hour before the Arc closes. Good thing we had one more day left. But we still got a few pictures in.
By day seven of eight I was feeling pretty content about our time in Paris. Things started feeling familiar and we knew how to get around. I felt like I had seen everything that was on my list and so we got to just enjoy ourselves. I wanted to hold on to it all -- every moment, every cute cafe, and every adorable French woman's outfit! Even the crazy packed metro. I am so glad we had what seemed to be just the right amount of time here. Any shorter would have felt unfinished.
One more day Paris...
Catch up on all Paris posts here.
