Day 6: Paris

This was the one day on our Paris itinerary I was most excited about. We had no set schedule, and no planned visits or tours. This was day was left to us to plan and fill up with whatever we wanted to do or see. Even our dinner was not arranged and scheduled on this day. Instead of eating as a giant group we were given the same 17€ voucher that Parisian office workers are given by their employers to buy thier meals. This meant that we could choose almost any restaraunt in Paris for our dinner. More on that later. Let's go back to the beginning of the day.

The first stop for my little group of six was the Paris Catacombs. These catacombs are not really catacombs in the same sense as the famous catacombs of Rome. They are really a giant underground ossuary. In the late 18th century, in an effort to improve sanitary conditions in the city, Paris began emptying its cemeteries and moving the bones into the old subterranean limestone quarries. Once the bones were there they were stacked into decorative patterns. The Catacombs of Paris are home to millions of former Parisians to this day. This was my first visit to the catacombs, and it is something I will definitely do again.

A short metro ride brought us to the island in the middle of the Seine where Paris was founded. After a stroll through an animal and plant market near the metro stop, we made our way over to Notre Dame Cathedral for a quick crepe stop and some pictures. Instead of waiting in the Sunday crowd for hours, we elected to settle for pictures of the outside of the church and crossed over the river to the Latin Quarter for lunch on the go. Then it was off to the Luxembourg Gardens, where we enjoyed a little bit of a break from the crowds in the former gardens of Marie de Medicis.

For dinner we returned to the Latin Quarter, where we found a great little restaurant that specialized in traditional French cuisine. We were pleasantly surprised to find that we were the only people in the entire joint speaking English. This meant that we were surrounded by locals. We were in a restaurant that is frequented by locals, instead of a tourist dive. The benefit of this was apparent. The food was fantastic, and our waiter was friendly. He even gave us a brief French lesson.

Overall, I have to say that this was my favorite day in Paris ever.

 

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