trip log: espresso carnage on a chilly morning

August 16th. We work up early, packed, and checked out by 9 AM. Because our flight was at 6 PM and we had to check out before noon, we carried all our luggage with us. We went to the grocery store at the end of the street and bought some yoghurt and orange juice and some pastries from the boulangerie nearby. We ate on a bench and shared it with a homeless man. It was very chilly out and we were very cold once breakfast was over. There was a little café just across fom where we were sitting so we decided to have a coffee to warm up. We left some of the food and juice with the homeless man and went inside. The espresso was awful there is just no other word to use. Dan saw the barista make it and couldn’t believe what he saw.

A workd about rue Cler: deinfately will not be staying there again. Its a tourist trap. We speak enough French that we don’t need to stay in a neighbourhood where everyone is surprised if you speak French to them. Waay to touristy.

So, we wanted to take in a few more museums before we left Paris. We walked across a bridge near the Eiffel Tower to the 16th arrondisement where we (eventually) found the Wine Museum. It was a very interesting museum with tons of things on display such as the traditional tools used for pressing grapes, barrel-making tools, equipment for testing the quality of the wine, hundreds of different glass bottles, flagons, pitchers and glasses and the patron saint of vinyards (St. Vincent). We learned that the bumps in the bottom of wine bottles are there because in early bottles it added strength, and the same with the ring around the neck of the bottle. The tour included wine tasting which we did after looking at the museum.

We took the metro to Notre Dame so we could visit the Crypte Archeologique which was closed on Monday. They had a very interesting dig of the area under the square infront of the church which dated back to Roman times. We saw a hypnocaust and also some of the items found in the dig (bone pins, bowls, etc).

We walked into the 6th arronsidement again to see the Museé de Moyen Age but after walking around the entire building, discovered it was inexplicably closed! We were not the only ones trying to get in. We had a few hours to kill before going to the airport so we mailed some post cards and went to the Grande Expcerie again for lunch. We had sausage, cheese, pretzels, orange juice and strawberries and ate them in the parc down the street (Babylon of all names).

We went back to Opera metro station and bought another bottle of beaujolais at that wine store, and then caught the Roissybus to the airport. We arrived a bit early and had to wait to check in, which took a long time. We ended up going into the wrong line for security but thankfully it was short and we didn’t end up wasting too much time on that. We didn’t even sit in the boarding lounge as the bus that took us to the plane arrived immediately. The flight was quick and we flew over London (at night time) on the way. We landed at Liverpool’s John Lennon airport where my aunt and uncle met us, then we were off to their place and to bed!