This morning we headed over to Aux Deux Ecus for breakfast. It was raining outside so we didn’t want to spend too much time walking around to find a place to eat. This place was only a couple minute walk from the Flat. We had the croissant, orange juice and cafe crème. This morning Kelle and I made sure to each our croissants like the French and dip it in our coffee. I will say it was delicious. We almost left this place because we thought you couldn’t get the crepes in the morning. So we got up to leave and the man came out and Kelle told him Jennah wanted Crepes. He was like oh yeah we do that in the morning not a problem. So she was happy and we stayed.

We decided to check out the church near our place Eglise St. Eustache since it was rainy this morning and we needed to find things to do inside. The church was having some restoration done and was a little dark inside. The ceiling was really high. We were able to walk around more since there were no services today. It was also free to go inside which was a plus.

After exploring the church we walked back to the Flat to do a little packing and figure out the plans with Darby. Once we had plans we hopped in the metro. This time we went into the entrance closest to our place. We found a movie theater down there, Starbucks, waffle factory, a public pool. Tons of things happening below ground.

Once we arrived at the Bastille stop we were planning to meet Darby in front of Footlocker. We were a little early and I was the only one with an umbrella, so we decided to walk a little and found a clothing store to go into. As we were walking in Darby found us, so we were able to chat a little while Bella tried on some clothes. She tried on a really cute skirt at Naf Naf, but said it was too fancy.

We decided to head over to Cafe Milou there was plenty of seating upstairs. It was the first time during this trip we had eaten up stairs. With the rain it was about 60 outside so this was the perfect time to eat upstairs. I had the Fish & chips. It wasn’t busy so we were able to sit around and chat for a bit. We were also hoping the rain would let up some. The weather app was saying rain was supposed to last until 4pm, so we knew we couldn’t sit around forever in our last day. The metro entrance was right across the street from the restaurant, so we headed back down to catch the train to the Opera.

We arrived at 1:50 and there was a guided tour at 2pm. When we walked in it said that the auditorium was closed so we decided to do the guided tour hoping we would be able to go inside the auditorium. The girls weren’t thrilled when they heard the tour was 80 minutes.

The Palais Garnier was the 13 opera house built at the request of Napoleon the 3rd. This was the place to be seen in Paris at the time. There was an amazing staircase to walk up and little balconies to stand at and watch people. There were 4 entrances into the Opera house. 1 for the emperor so his carriage could come right up to the door, 1 for season ticket holders, 1 for the common people, and 1 for the employees. So each side has an entrance with a purpose. The emperor and the empress’s boxes were facing each other and just next to the stage. So their boxes were great for people to see them, but not great for seeing the show. The stage also has a 5% slope to help people in the audience see. The book Phantom of the Opera was based in this opera house. They even have box 5 marked and sell a lot of phantom of the opera stuff in the gift shop. But since this is an opera house only operas and ballets are done here. They don’t don’t musicals, so phantom has never been preformed here. We did learn that all costumes and sets are done in house. Between this opera house and the “newer” one built in 1989 there are 1,700 people employed. From dancers, set designers, ticket sellers, light technicians. Tickets range from 120€-220€ depending on ballet vs opera. 12€ tickets for the very back of the boxes go on sale the day of the show.

By the time we finished in the opera house the rain had stopped! We hopped back in the metro (getting the use out of 5 day pass). The girls wanted granitas (slushes) from a place we saw in the Champs-Eyslesse, so we went back there to get drinks and a snack. There were some dry seats out front so we had our drinks and snacks before going back out to explore.

We found the macaroon place (Laudree) Alysen said she liked so we got into line there. There were tons of options for Macaroons and they had a lot of other things tarts, croissants and coffee. We picked out 6 to try and then headed over to a chocolate place. We also wanted to get some chocolates in Paris we could the mansion de chocolate. It was a little pricey, but we grabbed a mixed box to try and headed on. We headed again to the metro station.

It was a little after 5pm so the trains were packed! I’m pretty sure I saw a pick pocket stealing stuff out of someone’s bag. Every getting shoved onto the train and this girl had a flat backpack over her hand grabbing into someone’s bag. I just assumed she was getting something out of her friend’s bag. I did think the backpack covering her hand was weird. There was a mom and son that also got on at the same stop that were just fishy so I made sure I had a good grab on my purse. Then at the next stop the mom, son and girl all got off as the girl came from a little farther back on the train car and they quickly left. I saw the girl was the orange bag still on the train and was like I wonder if someone stole something from her shopping bag.

We got off at our stopped and decided we should eat before heading up to the room. We walked around a few places near our hotel trying to figure out what we wanted for dinner. Jennah wanted pasta again, so we had to find a Ragu or Bolognese. We found a cute little Italian place and decided to go there. We were the first people there since it was just 6pm. They had a fish tank inside and Jennah was excited to sit next to the fish at dinner. I think she spent more time taking pictures and making the fish then she did actually eating. I had the margarita pizza which was way better than the pizza I had in Venice (I know Venice isn’t know for their pizza, but it is Italy). After dinner it was time to head back to the room and finish packing everything since we have to get up for our flight.