Rain

They say the weather in Paris is strange, and we definitely experienced that today!  Despite the interesting weather, we completed all of the famous Paris sights, with little crowds in sight.  Instead of our 1 million friends following us, maybe 500,000 were in sight.  Needless to say, things were still crowded, but not on the huge scale that we had been experiencing.  We started the morning with a trip to see where Lady Diana had her accident.  It is pretty sad that France has a bigger monument for her than England does, a flame of fire.  People had written on the wall where she died; which was a neat sight to see. 

From a distance, we noticed that we were very close to the eiffel tower, so we took a nice stroll in the rain to see it.  There are many interesting characters at the large monuments.  Women who ask you if you speak English, only to really ask for money.  And, people from Africa, who are selling cheesy eiffel tower statues.  Though the lines weren't long, we decided not to go up the eiffel tower because of the nasty day outside.  The eiffel tower is a pretty amazing metal establishment.  It is so grand and entertaining.  We decied to eat at a cute little cafe.  White Asparagus soup was on the menu, and we instantly ordered this amazing dish.  Since they are in season right now, it is the thing to have over here, and boy did we like our decision!

We then headed down rue George X towards the Champs Elysses, and made our way to the Arc de Triumph.  While walking around this city, we have realized that Napoleon sure spent a lot of money.  Probably money that he didn't have, the same way that leaders of countries do now.  It shows how much things really do not change.  Needless to say, the monuments that he built are incredible.  All of the arcs, the gold, the palaces, and so much more. 

We then stumbled upon Julia Child's house and decided to do a little tour of all of her favorite things!  81 rue de loo, as she called it was cute and off of a quiet street.  After stumbling upon some of her favorite restraunts and post office, we came across Barefoot Contessa's favorite things.  Her cheese shop, her bread store, her market, and we think that we even discovered where her Paris flat may be.  It was an awesome tour of Paris, and most of all, my favorite things.  Julia Child and Barefoot Contessa was a huge reason why we wanted to experience Paris, and it was awesome to see some of the things that we had been researching for a while.

After our little tour through different people's memories, we decided to head back to our little neighborhood, grab a rotisserie chicken, some amazing potatoes au gratin, and cook our freshly cut french beans on our little stove.  We followed this amazing meal with some pretty incredible desserts, a chocolate eclair and a raspberry tart.  Both equally delicious.  Tomorrow is our cooking class and I am so excited, it may be hard to sleep!!