We always plan a few days on our own either before or after a tour. I had the pleasure to celebrate my 40th birthday this year, so Paris was part of my celebration! We felt very comfortable spending a few days in Paris, as several years ago we had been on the Paris in Seven Days tour. We had seen a lot of the big sights, so I wanted to just enjoy Paris. We had a fabulous time walking the streets, people watching, cooking, and even touring the city in a tiny car!
Highlights of the Day!
Day Fifteen: Euro Star train to Paris Late lunch on Rue Cler People watching at the Eiffel Tower Car tour of Paris at night! Day Sixteen: Explored Montmartre French Desserts Cooking Class Day Seventeen: Walk and Explore Paris Crepes for Lunch Tour the Opera House Watched the Lights come on the Eiffel Tower Day Eighteen: Taxi to Airport
Cooking Class!
I love to bake, so I thought how fun it would be to take a cooking class while in Paris. Since this part of the trip was in honor of my birthday, I decided this was my gift to myself! I booked months in advance with Cook'n With Class for a French Desserts class. The three of us had fun making five different desserts. There was plenty to taste there, and take some back to our hotel with us! Yum!
Opera Garnier
We hadn't gotten a chance to see the opera house the last time we were in Paris. We had wanted to take the guided tour, but the times didn't fit into our schedule. However, we enjoyed just strolling around the beautiful building on our own. The highlight was seeing Marc Chagall's ceiling.
Car Tour!
I saw Rick take this car tour on his Paris show and put it on my wish list! It was so much fun! Our driver was a French student studying fashion design who spoke better English than we speak French. (So it was a fun ride just communicating!) We laughed the entire one hour tour as we were dazzled by Paris at night. Our driver ended the ride with a stop at the Eiffel Tower for photos. Priceless!
Room Picnic
We stayed in Rick's recommended area Rue Cler. One of our favorite memories from our first trip to Paris was gathering picnic supplies on Rue Cler so we had fun doing that again this visit. We call it the six stop picnic, as that is how many stops we make to gather the food.