• This morning we had our final breakfast with Bobbie and Gary at the New Orient Hotel. B and G are off on another bike tour!  Bon Voyage! We look forward to comparing stories and having ‘French Night’ reunions back in Wisconsin! Rain was forecasted to start at 11:00am.

We walked over to St Joseph’s, an all English speaking church near the Arc de Triomphe . . . but it did not look much like a church from the outside.

Here is what it looked like in its former version.

To get to it, you walked (or wheeled) down to the lower level.

By the time Mass began, the church had filled with a global group of English speakers. Many were from Asia, as well as Africa, UK, US.

As we left the church and walked just a block we saw this . . . the Arc!

The road was busy with traffic and people . . . mmmmmmmm and some police cars.

Lots of traffic and activity. We headed down, actually an access way under the road leading to the Arc, to get tickets to go up onto the top observation platform.  We were told we could not buy tickets however, due to a low level terrorist alert today.

When we got back up the stairs and outside, more police had arrived.

Now there was no traffic and everyone was being evacuated from the Arc! This all happened in about 5 or 10 minutes from when we had first arrived.

We strolled down the Champs Elysees   which had been used for events related to Paris Fashion Week. This is what was left of an outdoor stage hosted by L’Oreal.  EmJay met a fashionista from Houston TX who was in town for the event. She was a designer, and was beautifully dressed.

The Champs Elysees is closed one Sunday a month, and we were lucky to be here! It was filled with families, couples, kids, tourists. Joy de Vive in Paris!

There were very good musicians up and down the street, playing for tips.

We saw lots of scooters like this . . . people even lock them up like a bike!

After a little lunchy, we visited the Petit Palais, a beautiful building housing a museum. This is a Greek pot from 400 BC.

Happy lion gargoyle!

Lots of paintings by Dutch & Flemish painters.

A portrait of Rembrandt with a pooch that echoed his looks/his locks!

. . . an early version of ‘the most interesting man in the world’????

Amazing bright and crisp colors . . . lots of detail too

“Would you like this stuff?”   “Oh, really, for ME?!”   “How sweet is that?”

This one was about the aristocracy meeting the Bohemians. Looks like a pretty wild time!

It was still raining outside, and chilly, but we walked back to our hotel,  about a 30 minute trek to the north.

As we looked back toward the Arc, there was still a huge crowd. Rain and emergency warnings do not dampen the Parisian’s’ spirits! We admired the sycamore trees carefully trimmed into boxy shapes.

Tonight would be our last night in Paris. It was drizzling as we walked to Bistro de Vinges along the darkened, wet streets. Sunday night . . . so there were not too many people out. What a moment to remember . . . seemed like a scene out of a movie. We were welcomed into the dry and warmth of the bistro and had a delicious meal of sea bream . . . and emJay finished it all off with a Brioche Perdue . . .YUMM!!!!!

We will sleep well tonight after all the walking we did today AND the great meal.

Our journey home begins tomorrow morning!!!