Day 12: A Triomphe-ant day (with a minor #fail)

After enjoying a great night at the ballet (eight words I never thought I would string together), we actually had another morning where we didn't have to get up super early. We don't have a lot of these, but they are definitely timely when they do come. 

After getting ready, we headed to the Metro and made our way to lunch. We found a place called Cafe Caesar. They don't have a creative group of people naming the restaurants here, but the food was excellent once again! This is truly going to shock you, but we had pizza, pasta, and fat-free desserts! Well, ok, maybe not exactly fat free. Maybe not fat free at all. But hey, maybe they didn't charge us for the fat...so....fat free!

Lunch beer

Ashley always makes these origami birds during lunch. The waiters and waitresses love them!

Next stop was the Arc de Triomphe; the biggest arch in the world! It was commissioned by Napoleon in 1806 to celebrate his victory at Austerlitz. It's located at the west end of Champs-Élysées. Below the arch is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from WWI, and every night at 6:30 they rekindle the flame that is at the tomb. The Arc de Triomphe honors the soldiers who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars*.  It's an astounding monument!  Whenever there are stairs to the top of any monument, count us in! After the Eiffel Tower's 674 steps, pretty much anything is doable. Luckily, we once again had pre-purchased tickets, so we avoided another 1+ hour line. We climbed the top (284 steps....not even half of Eiffel - piece of cake!) to work off our lunch and our, well, pieces of cake.  The 360° view from the top is awesome!

Miniature Town, Paris Edition!

We climbed back down (which, thanks much to (F = G(m1)(m2)/R^2) is much, much easier than going up) and started our way down Champs-Élysées. Sherri again tried to get the girls to get one memorable thing in Paris, but we really didn't find anything that they needed or wanted, so they didn't get anything. I have added $50 to each of their bank accounts...just don't tell Sherri I bribed them to not pick something out. $50 per kid is a much better deal than the alternative...

Sherri on the blinged-out steps at Swarovski

People, it's now time in the story to talk about another of our #EuropeanVacationFails.  Sherri had planned on finishing our Paris trip in an 'authentic' part of Paris, away from the tourists, mass of gift shops, and huckster painters trying to sell forgeries on the streets of France. So, we made our way on the Metro to Montparnasse. When we got there, we found a ton of tourists, masses of gift shops, and huckster painters trying to sell forgeries on the streets of France. Maybe they anticipated that people would try to find the 'authentic' part of Paris? We did find a really, really cool candy store there. The girls enjoyed picking out several different flavors....they were like kids in a candy store. And, there went the $50 from their bank accounts. It sort of softened the blow to see the price was by the kg and not the pound...I could pretend it was reasonable. 

I know, I know, bulk bins....

The place where there are a ton of tourists, masses of gift shops, and huckster painters trying to sell forgeries on the streets of France

We went back to the Arc de Triomphe area and enjoyed our last meal in Paris. We then took the Metro back to our apartment, packed up, and got ready for our early morning flight to Rome. Eccitato! 

*as always, thanks to Wikipedia for filling in some of the details for me