Sunday was a day full of planes, trains, and automobiles. We took the 3 hour train from Cinque Terre to Milan, took another train to the airport, flew to Paris and cabbed it to our Paris hotel. All told our trip back to Paris took about 12 hours.

For dinner, I introduced Brian to Vingt Heures Vin, the cute wine bar/restaurant that I've written about previously. We enjoyed a delicious bottle of wine (recommended by the owner) and cheese plate outside before our meal, and Brian soon understood why it is one of my favorite restaurants in Paris.

Brian hadn't seen the Sacre Couer before, so we walked the few blocks over and the couple of hundred steps up to the cathedral. From there we had an amazing view of the city. Hundreds of people were sitting on the steps in front of the cathedral singing and dancing to "La Bamba." It was hard to turn around and walk back down to the metro.

Monday morning I said "à bientôt" to Paris and returned to the airport. I use the phrase "à bientôt," and not "au revoir," because it means "see you soon"; I hope to be seeing Paris again soon.