One last...

Before we go, one last

• ride on the Métro
• browse in French shops
• lunch in a Parisian café
• visit to the Monoprix for groceries
• crêpe (last night I finally had the Nutella and coconut)
• purchase from Laduree
• afternoon spent reading in a park along the Seine
• stroll along the quai
• dinner in our apartment (tomorrow we will eat out)
• bottle of cheap (but tasty) wine
• visit to Notre-Dame after dark
• petit coppa of gelato (yeah, I know it's Italian and not French)

And one last visit to a church, although I did say we'd had enough of churches.

If you're a fan of The Da Vinci Code, you will recognize Saint-Sulpice, a beautiful church built during the reign of Louis XIV. You can read more about the church and its connections to Dan Brown's novel here.

Frescoes by Delacroix on the walls

and on the ceiling.

Beautiful detail.

A holy water receptacle made from a huge shell.

The "Rose Line".

The organ; I can't remember the significance of this in the story - something about a fight taking place in front of this. I did read the book, but have forgotten the details.

After our visit to Saint-Sulpice, we found more treasures in the city. The church was actually on Rue Bonaparte. How wonderful!

A random (and fun) sculpture along the street.

A beautiful shop selling matryoshka dolls. Very expensive. This display in the window has 70 pieces! Not for sale. There was another set with 30 pieces that cost 5000€.

A Scottish pub in the middle of Paris.

And, lastly, another reason to always look up!

Although I am quite eager to go home, after being away for nearly the whole summer, I really do love Paris.

Yes, despite all the annoying tourists, despite the noise every night all night in our neighbourhood, despite the surly service in most stores... Despite all that, this is a wonderful city - so beautiful, so cultured, with so much to do and see.

I'm sure I'll return. In fact, I am hoping to take my International Baccalaureate history students on a tour of France and England in the Spring of 2012. Will you come along with me on that trip?

Tomorrow is our real last day here, but it will be a day of cleaning the apartment and packing our suitcases (both of us are mostly finished that chore already). The apartment manager is coming to check us out and refund our damage deposit. We haven't caused any damage so we should get it all back.

We also have a "last hurrah" activity booked for the evening... I'll tell you all about it in my Last Post from Paris tomorrow night.