So it’s Saturday morning and the start of our last full day in Paris, which also means our last full day together.

The past 8 days have been so many things… Fun, exciting, stressful (at times), relaxing…just name a few. But it’s hard to imagine our time together is almost over. It went by too quickly.

We don’t have an exact plan for the day, but no matter what we do I’m going to appreciate every minute of it.

What I have neglected to mentioned up until now is that the weather has been crazy and completely unpredictable. However, the main theme has been rainy and cold.

Cris and I have, though, have seem to become experts at dodging raindrops. I also think we have gotten some help from all of our family members looking down on us.

Monday was cold and rainy the entire day until literally five minutes after we stepped off the bus at the Eiffel Tower (there’s that help I mentioned).

It’s funny what a little sun can do for your mood, because up until that point Cris and I had talked about taking a cab back to our hotel after only having snapped a few pictures at the base of the tower. But once the sun came out we walked to the Trocadero which offers spectacular views of the Tower from further away. We then meandered the streets and took the metro back to the hotel. Here we took hot showers and got ready to go back out because the weather was still clear. We made it to the Arc de Triomphe and were able to walk down the Champs-Élysées without getting caught in the rain. We then had a nice, simple dinner at a restaurant we stumbled upon near the Centre Pompidou.

Tuesday was another unpredictable day of weather. There were times we’d have to run down the steps of the double decker bus to take cover from the rain, only to be able to ascend 5 minutes later. But, in general, it was a much better day than Monday.
Upon reaching Notre Dame it started to pour. Lucky for us, at that point we were at the front of the line and about to go inside. The cathedral was stunning, with gorgeous stained glass windows and incredible architectural details (like all of the buildings in Paris). After taking it all in we left only to realize the rain had passed.

Next was the ride along the Seine. It was a beautiful, relaxing ride where we yet again were able to escape the rain. Our plan was to ride the boat for the next 6 or 7 stops and get off at the Eiffel Tower to actually go to the top, which we hadn’t done the day before because of the fact that we were wet and pretty miserable from all the rain earlier in the day.

About 15 mins before reaching the Eiffel Tower dock the clouds disappeared and it was nothing but sun and blue sky.
Because of the earlier rain, the lines were not that long, but we still decided to walk to the second floor in order to take the elevator to the top. We can now proudly say we walked up the 704 steps of the Eiffel Tower!

The rest of the day remained beautiful and we rode the bus around to see the last few sights that we hadn’t seen.

We ended the day at a Mexican restaurant, yes I said Mexican, because Cris needed his rice and beans fix. Which,for anyone who doesn’t know, is par for the course when we are on vacation.

Monday and Tuesday were exhausting.

We bought a two day pass on the hop on/hop off bus and boat and between those two means of transportation and the metro we have seen almost everything.

To name a few:
The Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, the Grand and Petit palaces, the Hotel des Invalides, Hotel de Ville, the Arc de Triomphe, Avenue des Champs-Élysées, Trocadero, the Place de Concorde, Notre Dame Cathedral, and all the other monuments you see when traveling up and down the Seine.

Although, it was exhausting (we are used to vacationing on the beach) Cris and I enjoyed our time playing tourists.

Yesterday it was surreal to wake up not only next to Cris but in Paris. I have already fallen in love with the city. On the one hand there are the large, highly visible, well known monuments,which are beautiful. And on the other hand there are all of cute, quaint buildings on the small, maze-like streets.

Our hotel was only about a 5 minute walk to the Louvre, so we went their first thing in the morning (checking one tourist attraction off the list).

It was incredible. Just the building itself, both inside and out, with its grandness and all of the architectural details was impressive. Never mind all of the art work within.

We had planned to meet Trish and Fred for tea time around 3, so once we were finished at the Lourve we walked through the Garden of Tuileries and just took in the sights.

We had some amazing desserts at Angelina’s with Trish and Fred in the afternoon and then we finished off the night at a birthday party for one of Fred’s friend.

Sitting at the party, I was overcome with a feeling of great happiness. Being with Cris again and having fun with great friends like we used to do was good enough. But then realizing we were at a party in Paris made it one of those moments I won’t easily forget.