This day would be our last full day in Paris. And how perfect was it that the weather was utterly beautiful! And how could we have left this grand and charming city without climbing the Eiffel Tower? Madusha and I would do the climbing, while Liatrice and Anna would do some shopping. After we ate breakfast omelettes at a cafe just five minutes away from the tower, we stood in line to buy tickets to get to the top. The line was massive! Zig zagging all over underneath the tower. We waited for so long until we saw these clowns walking on stilts handing out what looked like a postcard with the Eiffel Tower on it. We were excited to be given these free pictures, except that when we turned it over, it explained to us that one of the elevators was broken so the line was going to take longer than usual. However, it was never our intention to take the elevator anyway. We later realized that we were lining up in the wrong line when we saw a much shorter line going towards a ticket booth to take the stairs. Of course we wasted all that time standing around, doing nothing, when we could've been at the top already. Once we bought our tickets, we made it to each floor in no time; each level revealing a view that just got better and better. After loads of photo-taking, we bought delicious crêpes and ate them beside the Eiffel Tower, surrounded by couples and families under the beautiful sun.
Madusha and I then made our way to the Louvre to meet V again, along with her boyfriend. But we didn't get there without encountering a nuisance. So on our way to the Louvre, a man stopped us who very strongly insisted to talk to us, beginning to draw me on his clipboard right at the very start of the conversation. Conversing with him was.. weird. Who in their right mind would truly believe that Madusha and I were sisters after I'd told them?! It was really difficult to get away, and he finished his drawing after a few minutes. He asked me if I was ready for a surprise, the surprise being the drawing of me, of course. He turned it around and voila! The drawing. Could. Not. Have been. More. Inaccurate. I was in the middle, and he apparently also drew the Eiffel Tower and l'Arc de Triomphe beside me, with my name at the very top. I knew it was coming when he finally asked if I could pay for the drawing, "Anything you have. 5 euro? 10 euro?" Uh, the only thing that drawing deserved was my sympathy. I gave him 1 euro. And what a waste of a euro, that was. I mean, if you're going to draw tourists and ask money for it, if that's your side job or the way you make a living, at least do a good job at it.
But anyway! We met up with V and she was super generous to hook us up with two free tickets to get into the museum. We saw the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and other famous paintings (my favourites from Jacques-Louis David) and sculptures. When the Louvre closed, we waited for Liatrice and Anna to meet us by the large pyramid outside. After taking a succession of photos, photo bombing, and talking to french people, we took the metro to Montmartre. Here, we walked passed ghetto streets and climbed stairs to Sacré Coeur where we saw yet again, a gorgeous view of Paris. We walked around that area for a bit to admire the scenery, until we got really hungry. We ate a café restaurant called Le Ronsard, which was just back down the stairs. At our table, we had a beautiful view of the Sacré Coeur. As our last night in Paris, we decided to celebrate with a bit of wine. And it was our lucky night, as a band was to play that night. Words cannot describe how amazing they were. They played some french folk music with a mix of jazz. The family-like atmosphere of that café was so lively, energetic and full of joy. Being immersed in that french culture made me fall in love with Paris all over again.
After dinner, we took the metro back to the area by the Eiffel Tower to end our night with a river cruise along the river Seine. Despite the freezing cold from sitting on top of the boat for an hour, seeing Paris at night was spectacular. Seeing the Eiffel Tower lit up was especially stunning. On our first day in Paris, the excitement didn't strike me as hard as I thought it would. I felt like being there was sort of like old news to me, a "been-there-done-that" sort of thing. This was somewhat scary to me because I've held this city so close to my heart for almost my whole life, that it's somewhat become a part of my identity. But it finally hit me on our last night when I realized that I don't care much for all the touristy bits. I'm in love with the culture and its beauty. And to this realization, I felt kind of more at peace, knowing that I've discovered something about myself. But enough about all this "self-discovery through life" talk that some people probably won't understand. After the cruise, we grabbed our last tastes of crêpes, which we ate on our way back to the metro station. We ended our last night in Paris on a good and satisfying note.
Ps. Land-sharking all over Paris. YOLO.
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