A Weekend in Paris-Day 3

Bonjour tout le monde!!

Today was our final day in Paris. It is Pentecost here, so no classes and another long weekend.

We purposefully did not schedule anything today-we wanted to just wander and find things to love. After we woke up, we packed out bags and cleaned up the apartment. We went to brunch at a restaurant near our apartment and got coffee and crepes. The area we lived in is just indescribably beautiful. Some people started playing some music on a tuba and clarinet at a nearby restaurant, and it created the most perfect scene. I decided in that moment that I wanted to live in France again someday.

crepe and coffee

After brunch we rode bikes to Champs-Élysées. This bike ride was less enjoyable than the one to the Eiffel Tower. We had to ride through a lot of traffic. I actually got tapped by a car. We were still a ways away when we tapped out and walked the rest. We wandered in and out of stores, and eventually met up with Parker and Sam. Andrea, Talia and I all went to Zara and bought some clothes, a little just to say we bought clothes on Champs-Élysées. We walked up to the Arc de Triomphe, and took the tunnel under the road to get up close. The traffic circle around the Arc is so chaotic that it's pretty difficult to walk across. The line to go up to the top of the Arc was long, so we decided to skip it. We walked back to Champs-Élysées. Parker and Sam's train was leaving soon, so we grabbed dinner at a sandwich restaurant with them before saying bye. The remaining five of us took the metro back to the Eiffel Tower. We stopped in a souvenir shop and I got some things there. We sat on the lawn and read books and appreciated the view. A vender came up to us and Brett bargained with him to get a good price on wine. We enjoyed it as we people watched.

another Eiffel Tower picture

We decided to go get dinner in a place called Bercy Village, which I had never heard of. It's basically a mall with mostly restaurants, and it was super close to our bus stop. While we were at dinner, my friend Emma from Pitt stopped by and we caught up. It was super nice to see a face from home, and she's the sweetest person ever.

a pitt/paris crossover with emma!

We left Bercy Village and fast-walked to our bus stop. Its called a BlablaBus, but its basically just a Greyhound bus. There was a baby that cried for a lot of the ride, but besides that we lived. It was a 5 hour ride, so we slept a bunch. We also stopped at a nice truck stop and got some snacks. Our bus got to Lyon around 1 am, and we Ubered back to campus since the trams had already stopped.

Very sad to leave Paris, but also ready to be back in Lyon.

À plus tard,

Maggie

(Written for June 6)