All Good Things Must Come to an End

You know it's a great vacation when Anh & I aren't ready to go home. Usually, by day 5 we're more than ready to return to reality. That just wasn't the case for us in Paris. On day 6, we felt a sense of satisfaction with the incredible number of experiences we had squeezed into our trip, but we weren't ready to throw in the towel quite yet. The four of us wanted to make the most of our final full day in the City of Light. We took the metro North to see the Basilique du Sacre-Coeur which is situated on the highest point in Paris, Montmartre. The surrounding district, also referred to as Montmartre, was home to many of the world's famous artists: Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, and Salvadore Dali just to name a few.

From the top, you can see practically every landmark in Paris except the Eiffel Tower which was obstructed by the mature trees. Oh well! You can't have it all!Montmartre is a prime location for films shot in Paris with it's quintessential Parisian charm. It's also quite popular with the locals on weekends. According to my guide books, this area is crawling with scam artists looking to prey on tourists which really is a shame because it detracts from the experience. Luckily, we knew what antics to avoid.We wandered the side streets, enjoyed an impromptu culinary tour of Asia via a lunch at a tiny little restaurant that our stomachs simply would not allow us to pass by, and then we set out to find a world famous theatre...

Le Moulin Rouge!

After spending the morning so far from "home," we made our way back to St. Germain and the Latin Quarter for our final afternoon. We were very fortunate weatherwise for most of the week. While it was often overcast, we rarely had actual rain showers to contend with and more often than not the sun was shining when we really needed/wanted it. That was definitely the case when we set out to explore Paris' most popular park, Jardin du Luxembourg. The park is the garden for Luxembourg Palace which houses the French Senate.With it's lovely landscaped lawns and flower beds, it's easy to see why this park is loved by both locals and tourists. While smaller in size, it's Paris' version of Central Park in New York City. It's a beautiful oasis of greenery surrounded by the hustle & bustle of one of the world's liveliest cities.With the sun setting, we started to investigate the options for our last Parisian dinner. We wanted it to be truly memorable so we took our time to research restaurants in the area, and then we visited the top five before making our selection. Le Petit Pontoise was everything we had hoped for!Small, quaint, and charming with menu of mouth-watering items to choose from...what else could we ask for?!We settled in at our table and chatted about the amazing week we had just experienced, and as is typical for us, started debating all the options for our next group getaway. Let's just say, it's a good thing Mike & Anh immediately returned to work once we returned home. There were some grand ideas being thrown around!All dinner conversation came to a screeching halt once the dishes started to arrive...

Coq au vin

Chateaubriand with Pepper SaucePrawn & Scallop Risotto

We were too busy savoring each and every bite to waste energy chatting with one another. We thoroughly enjoyed each and every entree (appetizer) and plat (main dish). Our tummies were definitely full, but skipping dessert just wasn't an option! Who could pass up:

Chocolate MoussePoached PearSouffleand Creme Brulee?!

It sounds cliche, but dinner was the perfect ending to a perfect vacation. As Anh said upon our return, "I had such grand expectations of Paris, I was certain I'd be disappointed, but it was everything I hoped for and more." I couldn't have said it any better!