Kansan to Parisian: Last few days as a Parisian...

The countdown is officially one whole day left in Paris. It is hard to believe that my six week program is done and the time in my little apartment with my roommates is practically through. Luckily, this past week, I got to go do and see a lot! I had one last picnic by the Eiffel Tower, had a coffee in La Maison Rose in Montmartre, had a dessert in the cute café called Café Constant, walked around the Opéra Garnier, strolled through the old shopping district called Les Passages, got a delicious crepe, went to the Pantheon, and saw the sailboats in the Luxembourg Gardens. I'd say it was a pretty full week!

Overall, I think my favorite neighborhood in Paris is Montmartre. It has a very different feel to it. Although it is packed with tourists from all over, you can almost imagine back to a time when the writers of the day were writing in the cafés. The buildings are old and full of character and the only vineyard in Paris is located here. The view from the Sacre Coeur is breathtaking as you can see all of Paris from the top. La Maison Rose is a little pink house that many a French writer wrote in back in the day. It was pretty special to have a coffee there.

Since the Paris metro is quite easy to navigate, my roommates and I would sometimes pick a random station in a cool neighborhood and go walk around there for a bit and metro back home. This week, one of my roommates and I went for a stroll around the Opéra Garnier. This opera house is home to the legend of the Phantom of the Opera. Although we did not go in, it is possible to take a tour of the opera house and see the moats and locations that were featured in the story of the Phantom of the Opera.

One of my roommates is quite the foodie so she finds all sorts of places for us to try. This week we went to two places. The first, a fancy restaurant called Café Constant, is know for is excellent profiteroles. Those are little cream puffs that are filled with ice cream and covered in hot fudge. I had a floating island which is a merangue floating on a sea of English cream. All of their desserts looked so good!

The second place that we went this week was a well known creperie called Little Breizh. The "Super Complete" crepe was delicious. It was a buckwheat crepe filled with ham, bacon, a sunny side up egg, cheese, and leek cream. I was so full that I couldn't even eat dessert! This little creperie is operated by a brother and sister in a quaint neighborhood. If you are ever in Paris, you should pay them a visit for the best crepe you may ever have.

Another one of my favorite places in Paris is the Passages. This area has a few of these narrow shopping alleyways. The were built in the late 18th century as hidden passageways, but eventually fell into disrepair. Developers in the late 1800s decided they would make great shopping places since they are covered. My favorite gluten free restaurant is here in the Passages Panorama.

Only one place in Paris can call itself the final resting place for Marie Curie, Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, Jean Moulin, Voltaire, and many other well-known people that contributed to the progress of France. The Pantheon in the Latin Quarter is not only a memorial to these people, but it serves to remember the French that helped save French Jews World War II as well as being a place where influential French people will continue to be remembered.

There is almost nothing cuter than the little sailboats in the fountain at the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris. Little kids can rent tiny sailboats to put in the fountain. Each kid is given a long pole so they can push the sail boats from one side of the fountain to the other. The fountain is in between the gardens and the palace.

At the end of the week, I head to Toulouse! More to come.