parisian walk

Due to a very uneventful week of being sick and doing nothing exciting aside from going to class, I was very ready to get out of the house and do something this morning when I woke up FINALLY feeling a little bit better.

Esther's friend from home Craig is visiting her for the long weekend so we decided to take him to the best falafel restaurant in Paris for lunch. We rode the metro to the Marais (which has fabulous shopping that Esther and I exercised a lot of self control to avoid), and with my Aunt Maurine's help found L'As du Falafel which wasn't hard to spot with a line half way down the street. We bought our falafel (topped with eggplant!) and thoroughly enjoyed it on a bench before setting off to wander around the city. We covered a lot of territory...walking from the Marais to the Bastille and then along the Siene down to Notre Dame, where we found a very fun little park behind the church with a do-it-yourself tiltawhirl. Upon jumping on it, we realized it spun a lot faster than one would think and we probably had a little too much fun for a bunch of 20 year olds.

After Notre Dame we wandered down to the Latin Quarter and Saint Germain district and from there we walked past the Louvre and Place de Concorde before ending up along the Siene again which we followed to the Champs Elysees, taking pictures of all the beautiful ponts (bridges) along the way. Just before going home we stumbled upon a Vogue exhibit along the Champs Elysees sponsored by Sephora. The sidewalk on one side of the avenue was flanked on either side by assorted Vogue covers from 1920 to present. It was so much fun to see how the covers, models, and even prices have evolved over the years.

After 5 hours on our feet we took the metro home at sunset and turned onto our street just as it started to rain. As we passed our favorite Moroccan restaurant and waved to the owner he came out and asked how my throat was and then told us that we had to come in for tea because it would make me so much better. My favorite mint tea was the perfect end to the day, and as always, it was "on the house!"