Macaroons are tiny!

Today’s plan was to go to the famous Père Lachaise cemetery. However, after a stop at a bistro and cold walk, we found out it was closed due to the snow we had a few days ago.

When all else fails take a picture to remember the moment.

We hopped on our favorite bus 69 (let me say, don’t hop on just any bus because they’ll take you way out of the city and drop you in the ghetto for a good 13 minutes) and headed to Place de la Bastille. We had seen it earlier in the week but didn’t stop. This time we walked around and took some pictures. I had hoped to go into the Opéra Bastille gift shop, but oddly on Mondays and Saturdays they take lunch and even though lunch was scheduled to be over, no one was around. We waited for 15 minutes and still nothing.

I'm pretty sure that's a blown-up condom.. random and gross to have stand near while hoping the gift shop will open.

Still waiting

Peaking in the window of the Opera house we found out what time it was around the world.

Next we went way out to the national library. The four buildings are supposed to be open books standing on end. It’s a neat idea and I loved their use of glass and light-color woods, but the “books” are all at 90 degrees so in the end it just looks like an unconnected square to my brain. We did some “window” shopping out there but didn’t buy anything. The most interesting sight of the day out there had to be the big penis book, the big boobs book, or the great legs book. I took a sneak peak and yikes – when they said big they weren’t lying.

Back in town we walked around the Grand Palais and Petit Palais then hoped on the métro toward Trocadéro, which takes you to the Eiffel Tower. We decided against going up since we did a few years ago. It’s neat but I’m not sure it’s worth all those euros, and there are so many peddlers and pickpockets it’s hard to just relax and enjoy.

My "little" palace

Jason's "big" palace

Kissy kissy

Jason showed me the military school, which made me laugh and think about all those old sayings “I’ll send you to military school”. This military school looks out on a peace monument with the Eiffel Tower glowing in the background. Doesn’t sound so bad to me! ;)

The military school

We were headed to the métro when we decided to stop at a store, and low and behold I finally got the picture I’ve been trying for days to get for my mom. In 2007 I got a picture of someone walking their poodle down the road, and now I’ve got a French bulldog in a store! Seriously I’ve been sneaking pictures of people and their Frenchies for days now, but none came out like this one.  I LOVE French bulldogs. :)

We concluded our night with a trip to Printemps finally to get some Ladurée macaroons. I’ve been obsessed for over a year about trying them. And as I write this, I can finally say I did it – I paid way too much money for a tiny little macaroon. On that thought, I didn’t realize that macaroons were so little. I always thought the little ones were “petit” and the typical ones were the big ones. What a surprise. ;) We got a réglette or “slider box”, which is the cheapest option, and you get 6 macaroons. We picked three each. I chose vanilla, chocolate and orange blossom. Jason chose caramel, chocolate and pistachio. They were good – not 16€ good, but good none the less, and I’m very happy to have experienced them in all their beauty.