We travel home tomorrow and wanted to do something very special on our final day in Paris. So we decided to spend the day in our favorite part of the city – Montmartre, in the 18th Arrondissement on the northern part of Paris. It is also the highest point in the city and there are some beautiful views. The Sacre Cœur Basilica is located in Montmartre and always attracts a crowd.

We love the feel of this section. The small shops, the artists painting and selling, and the cafes. We always go to La Mére Catherine for lunch; kind of a family tradition. Montmartre is simply a relaxing place to explore and enjoy. We thought this would be the perfect end to this beautifully perfect journey. Sadly, La Mére Catherine was down for construction, although they still had an outside cafe. Seems like everything is under construction in Paris.

Pat wanted to get a portrait of us done, so we found a guy named Davy. He does amazing work and gave us a good price since we were his first models today. Plus, he said we had interesting faces which was probably so much BS. But he is very good. I sat for Davy first, and then Pat modeled her beautiful self. I found a cafe and a vin rouge. All is well with the world.For all we’ve done and all the people we’ve met during the past few weeks, we are truly blessed. At this moment, I’m sitting at a cafe in a city I have wanted to visit all my life. I have been fortunate enough to be here every year since 2016. Each trip has been more incredible than the one before. And now I have my Pat to explore these places with me. If today was my last, I would be completely satisfied.

We had a beautiful lunch of chicken and Beef Burgundy, onion soup, shrimp, creme brulee, and capucinno at La Mére Catherine which was actually using the kitchen of Au Cadet deGascogne while they are undergoing construction. The food was magical, but of course it was; this is France.

We walked the streets for awhile until my leg gave out, and Pat was wonderful enough to understand. We found a beautiful taxi, a new Mercedes, to take us back to our apartment in the Eiffel Tower area of the city. We began to talk and found out the driver’s name was Hassan and he was from Casablanca, Morocco. I told him I’d been to Tangier and that was all it took. We began to talk and by the end of our ride, we were friends. I think that’s what Pat and I are going to miss most; making friends with people from all over the world. All of them have interesting stories, and we loved hearing them all. But we also had stories that they enjoyed. We love discovering the world. It makes us feel whole.

We passed a crowd of cars, and Hassan told us it was Emmanuel Macron, the President of France. How exciting is that!?!

We’re back at the apartment now and the only thing left to do is finish the bottle of wine we have, and pack for tomorrow’s trip. All the Euros are spent, I guess it’s time to go home. What a time we had! I wonder where in the world we’re going next?