Paris - Rodin Museum, lunch along the Seine, and the Invention Museum

On our last day in Paris, we met up with our friends Kim and Kyle. It was so amazing and surreal to spend a day with them in Paris. We began our day at the Rodin museum, one of Dave's favorite sculptors. The garden and mansion that houses the museum is the perfect setting to display the forms in his creations. After such a busy week in Paris, this place was a wonderful respite.

From there, we picked up a baguette, some pate, ham and cheese and of course a bottle of rose (when in france...) for a picnic lunch along the seine. We even think we located the exact bench where Dave and I got proposed. ;)

Our next stop was really interesting. We went to the invention museum. Such care was put into this gorgeous museum. The building was an old monastery, that at some point must have been turned into a factory because there are rail tracks running throughout the interior. We didn't know what most of the inventions were, but they were all beautiful and arranged in a spectacular presentation.

We had dinner in the St Germain area - ham, salmon, and risotto. And of course - crepes and gelato for dessert. The artisinal gelato place had marscarpone fig gelato....delicious!

Paris - the Catacombs, Pompidou, Atelier Brancusi, and the Marais

Today we hit the catacombs (creepy....really really creepy) but super cool. It is really interesting how organized the french stacked the bones. They didn't just throw them in there, but instead, they carefully placed them in an artful manner. I think Daniel and I couldn't wait to get out, even though we loved it.

We brought our ham and cheese and baguette lunch and found a bench once we got out of the creepy catacombs. After that, we took the subway up to Les Halles, which is completely under construction. Walked over to the Pompidou, which Daniel thought was awesome, and spent some time sitting and enjoying the Atelier Brancusi. His wish was to have it reconstructed in it's entirety, which was accomplished by Renzo Piano. It is really serene, and a very nice place to sit and be inspired.

Then a walk around the Marais, which has awesome cute shops and restaurants, games in the Place de Vosges, and then dinner. We are wiped out, but there is just so much to see, that we keep going and going. Plus the sun doesn't go down til 10pm, so that's keeps us going too.

Paris - the food market + La Tour Eiffel

Oh Paris, how I love you so!

Today, we decided to stock up on french goodies to eat for our lunches. We headed to the Raspail Market, a few blocks from our apartment. Daniel got a baguette and a tiny gold eiffel tower key chain.

This was our lovely lunch in our apt

The rest of the afternoon was spent at Daniel's much anticipated site...La Tour Eiffel. Yes, we did walk up all 668 stairs. Then, thank goodness, we took a lift to the top top.

and lastly....a lovely french dinner in the marais. 

Paris - the antique market + St Chappelle

We started our first day in Paris at the famous Cafe de Flore, where a cappuccino is 7 euro. We were hoping to find a grocery on our first night in order to avoid such craziness and have breakfast at home, but hey - we can now say we ate at Cafe de Flore (it WAS a darn good cappuccino).

Then, we decided to hit the oldest and biggest flea market in Paris. There is stall after stall of the most amazing things to see, from tiny trinkets (naked plastic dolls that 'fit' together on a key chain - that I had to drag Daniel away from playing with - oy) to gorgeous antique furniture to old matchbox cars to a leather rhino (now we know where DWR got THAT idea)...it has it all.

From there, we took the metro back into the center of Paris to see Notre Dame. The line was super long, and it was very sunny, so we decided to check out Saint Chapelle instead. This is one site we could visit over and over again, it never disappoints. 

Daniel ended his evening with a waffle smothered in chocolate