When we get back to Paris from Santorini, we decide to hit the major sights on our last few days since we had only seen the Notre Dame till then. That for us includes the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo sculpture in person, the Arc de Triumph, Champs Elysee and of course not trip to Paris is complete without visiting the Eiffel tower. Then on Edar's last day, we take a train out to see the Versailles castle.
We do alot of walking and of course eating while walking. I had heard that if you spent 3 mintures in front of each art piece in the Louvre, you would still need 3 full months to finish touring the monstrously huge place. So we just wander around a few rooms with the focus on Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo and once we see it, we take our pics and then headed out before "musuem fatigue" (yes there is such a term i saw in the Paris guidebook which makes me feel less uncultured since seems like i am not the only one who can't take too much art at one time) set in. Times like that, I am glad am not travelling with a tour and art buff or it would be painful for me!!
We walk all the way from the Louvre to Champs Elysee street where all the famous brands are and are confronted by the largest Louis Vuitton store you will ever see. Rightfully since this is the birthplace of the brand of luxury brands. Its like a musuem inside itself with a ton of people milling around and buying. What recession??
Then we stand in line and grab the last thing on our French culinary list-a freshly made nutella and banana crepe. Yummy!!! We continue our stroll to the Arc de Triumph which Napolean commissioned for his victories and take more pictures.
On our last day in Paris, we find a place to have a proper french dinner complete with French onion soup, some champagne and roasted poulet(chicken) with potatoes for me and shrimps for Edar. It was delicious and we just talked about our trip and where we go from here knowing, we'd probably not see one another for another year.
Turns out my pricey French dinner as a treat from Edar for not being able to be there in Shanghai for my birthday in 3 weeks. Not only that, she had given me a beautful hardcover journal titled "The Life List" which is like a book of goals of the things I want to achieve and structured in a way that I can write about my progress towards them. A very touching gift considering how much of a goal-getter i had always been up till this point when I got burned out and lost focus and yet reminding me to try again and be brave to reach towards my dreams once again. She includes a handsome fountain pen with my name engrave on it with which to pen my journey and finally a silver frame engraved with "Santorini-we did it!!" over the top. What a wonderfully thought-out set of gifts and one that I will treasure for eternally with memories of our special trip that we will be sharing about fondly till we are on our rocking chairs.
As we left Europe, I spend most of my time in the plane writing my thoughts in my journal, under the first goal in my Life List- Visit Europe with a close friend before 30! and there it is, the fulfilling start to the next chapter of my life...