Day 5: Paris France

Our third full day in Paris, Rich again availed himself of the meal credit that came with our room and had a large breakfast buffet, while Ryan slept in. Our first destination that AM was the very nearby Coulee Verte Paris aka Promenade Plantee, a 2.8 elevated walkway following a former railway through the city. I had stumbled upon it, and had read that it pre-dated NYC's Highline by decades, and served as it's inspiration. Somewhat miraculously, our hotel was about 1/3 of a mile or so away from the start of the promenade. The walkway meandered above roads and through residential areas, parks, etc. I found it to be very alluring for city goers, and only wished I could have run it.

The start of the promenade, once you climb up steps to the top of the brick bridge

Toward the end, we found the nearest Metro and were ready to hop on, until we noticed a barber shop nearby. Since we hadn't had time to get Ryan's hair cut before we left, we figured- why not? Ryan hates every haircut in Hawaii, why not hate a Parisian one too?

But Sofiane did a phenomeaal job on Ryan at Latelien du Burbien Paris, which Ryan came as close to saying by admitting that he did not hate it. Rich and I loved it. His barber was friendly caring,  meticulous and we appreciated him taking a chance on a moody looking teen who was not thrilled about a haircut.

From there, we made out way back to the Metro and took a ride out of town for 30 min out to the Sacre Coeur Cathedral. After another 10-15 min walk up a hillside and many flights of stairs, we joined the rest of the tourists up there. HOARDES of people were there, and apparently, every last one of them purchases a lock to secure to fencing around the cathedral. We opted out of the lock-buying tradition because of the worldwide abuse of locks that we cannot contribute to.

There were nice views from atop the cathedral and a short queue to get in despite the heaps of people up there. However, the interior was...okay. Let's go with it was rather 'gray and austere.' Unlike the stained glass of Sainte Chapelle, or say, the singing choir in Dublin's Notre Dame...this was...less awe inspiring and the interior didn't quite live up to the exterior. However, I will say- this was a building I'd hoped to visit on our first trip to Paris, but we ran out of time. I remember seeing it stand out proudly on a hillside and really wanting to see it...so at least I had the opportunity!

We were not exactly overwhelmed and it wasn't the longest visit in the world, so we consoled ourselves by a failed Banksy hunt of street art (fail), and a successful pastry stop.

I had a strawberry tart (one of about 3-4 during the trip duration) and I got Rich a chocolate ganache cake. Ryan turned his nose up at the offer his own pastry, so I was happy he tried ours and did not hate them. :-) 

We asked him what he wanted to do in final hours of Paris, and he said- visit another piano store! At the train station we exited (a newer one), we all used a bathroom in a station that looked a bit like a Star Wars space station. The bathroom also fit the theme, with a futuristic door that slid open and supposedly disinfected itself after each usage. However, from the smell, that feature wasn't working so hot.

From there, we set off through a newer business district and found the much larger, more welcoming piano store Ryan had found on Google maps. He was pretty delighted, and must have spent another hour there trying every piano on the floor. I especially liked the one below, as it was open and exposed and you could see the inner workings of the piano.

We weren't too far from our hotel, so we walked back through part of the city through some stunning modern architecture...

It's hard to see the building perched atop the tower in the center. You don't think of Paris as being at the forefront of modern architecture, but they certainly had some eye catching buildings for these country folk.

Since it was our fourth and final night in the city, and were flying out the next AM to Italy...we decided to stay closer to Charles du Galle airport so we could sleep a little longer the next day. We booked a room at the Hyatt Regency there and enjoyed Regency Club access that night, so Ryan got to enjoy a nightly appetizer of prosciutto and other canapes in the lounge. I'm not the girl who loves almonds and dried fruit or prosciutto or bread (I'd much rather have a musubi and lemon peel gummies), but it was a really nice touch and the boys enjoyed it.

The room was somewhat monstrous with a massive sitting area, and had the largest bathroom I think I've ever seen. The lobby atrium was also something to see, as it stretched up about five stories.

The hotel was kind enough to call us a personal uber (gratis) and gifted us with individual breakfast boxes since we left before the breakfast buffet started, and the shuttle was running about 15 min late and I think they could sense the distress on our faces. It was nice to leave Paris on such a hospitable note!