Coming Home!

Wow! It's hard to believe it's been two weeks and we are on our way home in the morning. We decided to get as much in today as we could and started off with a walk over to Starbucks to get some real coffee and wifi. But, the coffee wasn't the same and, surprise, the wifi was not working!! That seems to happen a lot here. 
After that we started walking towards the Montparnasse as we had heard that the Montparnasse Tower was not a major tourist attraction and offered a great view. When we got there, we saw about 12 big buses disgorging herds of uber tourista types. There was also a major line forming. We don't do lines. So took the shots below and headed off to our next destination.

Then we decided to get a bite to eat and stopped at a patisserie. We hadn't had pain au chocolat yet so ordered some of those. Marilyn wanted to share one, but that didn't work out. We had two!

After that we wandered into a market. There are a lot of them around the city on various days and most have produce as well as flea market type things. 

This one reminded me of my tomatoes at home!

Our next stop was the Luxembourg Gardens. We're so glad we went there because this was the most beautiful of all the gardens we visited. Once again, there was no walking on the perfect grass but it was amazing to look at. 

Here's a common scene around any of the gardens or parks in Paris.

This is the Fontaine de Medicis. It's hidden away behind the trees in a corner of the garden. Never would have found it if my friend Corinne C. hadn't told me about it. 

From the Luxembourg Garden we traveled to the Rodin Museum. I had no idea he was such a prolific sculptor. The gardens around the museum are amazing and this was another location from the movie Midnight In Paris.

And then we were off to lunch. There were a couple of restaurants that I really wanted to get to while here. One was Fish last night and the other was Les Cocottes de Constant. We saw this restaurant on Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations show. It looked really good and he was impressed. It's a small place that fills quickly but there are no reservations. We arrived a little after noon and there were still seats. Lucked out again. A cocotte is a cast iron pot and that's what most of the dishes are cooked in. The food was fabulous. We noticed that there were cookbooks by the chef so we asked and there was an English version so I have one. Now I just need some cocottes but I think we saw them at St. Lawrence Market. Here's what we had,
Wine.

Marilyn had the daily special which was a pork chop with mashed potatoes. The pork was really tender and juicy. 

Mine was a veal stew with potatoes. Simple but so good. 

When you order a coffee in a restaurant here, this is what you get. It's basically an espresso. They just can't do a proper, ordinary cup of coffee. As soon as I get off the plane tomorrow, I'm finding a Timmie's!!

After lunch, we picked up our new passports and we decided we needed to go back to the hotel for a break. It was unseasonably warm at 26 degrees so we were hot too. (I know, it's a million degrees back home!) So, we stopped and picked up a couple of cold beers at a local store. So convenient and civilized! What's wrong with Ontario!!
Mine was the 11.6% Maximator. Wow, that packed a punch! 

We ended up putting together our own dinner in our room and then going out to see the crowds and lights later. But, it's after midnight now and we're getting up before 6 to leave. We have to catch a 7 a.m. train to the airport. So, I'll tell about last night and whatever else happens when we get home. See you!