Paris: Nous ne regrette rien

With two days left in this lovely city we're thoroughly sad to be leaving but looking forward to getting back to reality and to the continued pursuit of our long term goals.  But, before we leave we want to be sure to list our favourite things about our time here and the things we'll miss most.

We already miss the many marchés de Noël.  They were fun and festive and provided us with a unique and memorable introduction to Paris culture.

Mike loved the free and frequent public toilets.  These things were fantastic!  Clean and convenient they were used often during our long days wandering the city streets.

We loved turning any corner and discovering something completely amazing be it architecture, a fountain, a park, a statue, a cute street, or a beautiful church.  This city is full of surprises with one literally around every corner.

We loved the café culture and outdoor seating options.  While living in Seattle Desi would always comment on the lack of rainy day culture.  She thought it bewildering that Seattle would basically shut down for the six months of winter.  No one seemed to agree with her on this point but now, after witnessing the possibilities, she knows a culture can thrive in poor winter weather with little change to summer weather routine.  Paris does outdoor seating during these cold days so well that we rarely sat indoors during our meals and thoroughly enjoyed our occasional café crème and espresso in the heated pavement seating areas, even on the coldest days.

The vente a emporter options and street vendors were convenient, cheap, and very good.

Food and drink, especially on our almost non-existent budget, were amazing.  We savoured everything we ate from the street vendor hot dogs and gaufres to the restaurant escargots, choucroute, and moules frites.  The €1.07 bottles of wine and equally as cheap fromages from the supermarchés were as good as we've had anywhere for much more.  The fresh €.85 baguettes will be craved daily.

Vin chaud is our new favourite winter drink and will be enjoyed often.

We'll miss the Parisiens; amazingly kind and friendly people.

We'll miss the convenience of the Metro system.  We traversed the entire city for only €1.20.  Great system.  We'll especially miss the faces pressed against the Metro doors during rush hour.  They pile you into those train cars like sardines and it's quite an experience.  We've never seen a population utilise their mass transit like the Parisiens do.  It's inspiring.

The plethora of world class museums is astounding.  To have any one of them at your doorstep would be amazing but this city is filled with them.