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Our third day in Paris was gorgeous! Perfect weather for a day out about town.
First stop: Père Lachaise cemetary where tons of famous French people, non-famous French people and Jim Morrison are all buried. The cemetary itself is beautiful in a creepy, historic way that inspires some kind of romance or mystery story.
Next, we trekked up to my favorite park in the city: Butte Chaumont. It was commissioned by Napoleon III and was finished in 1867. It's famous for its cliffs, grotto and waterfall (all things you would not necessarily expect to find in Paris!), a gazebo/temple at the top of the tallest peak, and a suspension bridge. It's amazing and something I don't think a lot of people hear about (so if you go to Paris, go here!)
Then we walked metro'd down to the Saint Michel area so we could go to a bookstore (that was closed, sad face) so we sat in the Luxembourg gardens a bit before walking up to le Panthéon and hanging out there for a while. I used to live behind the Pantheon yet I only went in it once so seeing it again was new for me. Amazing architecture and paintings inside. It also houses a bunch of famous dead people so Sunday was really our day to honor les morts français. (And yes, Mother, we visited Alexandre Dumas for you!)
I made everyone walk past my old apartment building and through the little square that leads to one of my favorite streets in Paris - rue Mouffetard. Everyone was a little hhungry and cranky at this point but we got some crèpes and finally settled at the bar Adam had been looking forward to checking out, on rue de Pot de Fer, Brewberry! I'm not a big beer drinker but this place was pretty cool. Very small, with very short ceilings, it's like sitting in a wine or beer cellar with hundreds of beer choices at your fingertips. The bartender was friendly, knowledgeable and entirely bilingual so he delivered his spiel in French before realizing two people in our group didn't understand him and then said it all again just as far in English. I would recommend this bar for any beer lovers in Paris.
A couple beers later, a friend whom I met during my first semester studying in Paris met us at Brewberry and hung out with us until the bar closed. It was great seeing Kate after so many years and hearing all about her last 18 months living in Paris. We talked and laughed a lot and normally I worry about us being the loudest people in the bar, but that night, another group of 10 or 12 Frenchies were at the table behind us (and when I say behind us I mean their chairs were touching our chairs; it's a smalll bar) and ended up singing French drinking songs and trying to get us to sing American ones (though we had to explain we don't have drinking songs so much as drinking games....).
Another fun night embracing the local night life and catching up with friends in Paris. Can't beat that. :)
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