Our Vacation's Happy Ending

Today was another chill day together—our last full day in Paris. We slept in, which was much needed, and then got an early brunch of linguine and French onion soup. Then, we made our way to see the Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately, they’re renovating it in preparation for the Olympics this summer, so we couldn’t go all the way to the top. The view was still really nice. Foggy, but nice. We saw many pigeons trapped inside and made it our mission to free as many as we could. We definitely weirded some people out, but it was fun and felt good.

We also had our special limited edition beef wellington lays chips! As we were eating them, one of the professional photographers came up to us because he saw our cameras. He said he was looking for a nice couple like us to take a picture of, which was very kind, but we weren’t in the mood. We chatted a bit about our cameras because they’re analogue film, not digital. He seemed really interested by it and gave us fist bumps to say goodbye lol.

Our legs were tired and our bodies were cold, so we made a pit-stop at McDonalds before checking out the antique shops at Village Suisse. The McDonalds was huge and I even was able to help someone who couldn’t read the French on the kiosk. There was an English button, but I guess she just did it too fast. The screen was asking her to take one of the table numbers at the kiosk and enter the number. She also asked me if she had to pay later since it didn’t ask her, which was odd because I paid at the machine. I guess she pressed a different button. I hope everything went okay.

I ordered a 4-nugget Happy Meal for myself with fries and apples for Camden. They also had an option for a book instead of a toy!! How wild! I chose the toy, but it ended up being Pokémon cards. It’s pretty cool to have French ones, but I gave them to Camden to gift to a friend or put on his corkboard at home. I also got a Viennese coffee, but they forgot the whipped cream, so I just waited until we finishing snacking to ask for it. It’s nice that it’s called Chantilly. In America, Chantilly is fancier (I think).

Village Suisse was just across the street from the train tracks, so that was super convenient. Sadly, most of the stores were still closed, despites all signs saying they were open 7 days a week from 10.30 to 19.00. I guess it’s the winter and people don’t want to sit in their tiny, cold room with all glass windows. Many of the vendors looked so cramped in the corner of their shop with just a laptop.

After a lovely nap, we made our way to L’arc de Triomphe, which was a short 20-minute train ride. The train station was just a block away from the Airbnb, and it came right when we arrived. It was a nice ride and the station exits have an incredible view. We decided to get tickets to go inside and climb up to the top. I was happily surprised to find out that my ticket was free because I’m an EU youth resident! Camden had to pay 16 euros, but when I said it was like paying 8 for each of us, that made it feel more worth it.

For dinner, we went to Le Café du Commerce, a gorgeous three-story restaurant. It happened to be right by our Airbnb, so I figured it would be an easy spot to eat at before packing our stuff for tomorrow. The interior was stunning. The warm lights and vintage posters everywhere gave it so much charm. The service was also incredible! Our server, in particular, was amazing. He was so friendly and playful with us. When I asked for the check, he said “Non” cheekily. I even got a really good picture of him. I was originally aiming at him for a candid, but he saw and struck a pose. It really made my night and I can’t wait to get it developed so I can hopefully send it to him. I wish I got his name, but they don’t do that in Europe. It seems like it’s regarded as unprofessional/unnecessary.

To end the night, we packed everything pretty quickly and listened to the Hadestown soundtrack. We got a bit sad because the original cast recording just wasn’t as good as the touring one we saw in Chicago. Thankfully, we didn’t have that much stuff, so it didn’t take more than 15-20 minutes to get everything together.

We winded down for bed with our Chicago tradition of watching Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories with some tea. We each had a cup of peppermint green tea we got at Monoprix earlier that day. It turned out that we had finished the series, which was NYE-themed. It was very bittersweet, but felt like a good ending.