We started the day with a trip to the Pere Lachaise Cemetery to see Jim Morrison's grave. Rebecca and I like to tour cemeteries and see the history and crypts from hundreds of years ago.
It was sad to see some of the graves in tough shape and assumed maybe the linage had ended with that person and there was no one else to take care of them.
We stopped by the somewhat famous Victor Noir tomb that has now been reopened to the public. There is a myth that says if you come to this tomb and kiss Noir on the lips, touch a certain location, and leave a flower in his hat, you are destined to get pregnant. Women in the area were flocking to this tomb, so at one point they had to build a fence around it. There was such a public uproar that they eventually removed the fence and it is once again open to the public. You can see in this picture, the certain location that women rub.
This cemetery was quite expansive, so after all of our exploring, our energy was running low. We ducked into a café and reloaded with one final "petite dejeuner." There is nothing better than fresh squeezed orange juice, French butter and bread, and a cappuccino.
Next, we hopped the Metro and headed to the Grevine Wax Museum. We were surprised how large it was, as the entry was small. But we kept going up and down levels and spent over an hour inside (many of the figures were of French celebrities we didn't have a clue about). We ran into a few famous people and found Rebecca's long lost cousin who had very similar hair.
I ran into two friends chatting and they let me take my picture with them.
And of course they had Rebecca's heartthrob, Brad.
We grabbed a quick bite to eat at an Irish pub before we did the History of Chocolate Tour, where they have all you can eat chocolate!!!
At every turn they had these dispenser machines filled with chocolate. Of course, we had to try them all, more than once. By about the third machine I was feeling a bit sweaty and walking a lot slower. The structures of art made from chocolate were amazing and the guards were closely watching me as I moved towards them licking my lips.
By the end of the tour, after the chocolate making demonstration where we sampled even more, I was moving really slowly.
Rebecca and I thought it would be fun to push our stomachs out and touch them together after the tour. We did this on the street and got more than one strange look as we did this while laughing hysterically.
We ended the day just exploring places. We walked back to the outside of the Louvre and watched people wait in line, take pictures and try to avoid the rain, visited a taxidermy shop, and went down as many charming back-alley streets as we could find.
We got back to our apartment (pictured above - the one with the wraparound balcony) and packed up since we were leaving the next day. I soon realized I had a French cracker addiction when half my suitcase was filled with the delicious, buttery, heavenly treats.
Here are some stats from our trip:
Miles flown: 10,000
Number of arrondissements visited: 10
Trips to the Monoprix: 7
Boxes of crackers brought home: 19
Pounds gained from eating cheese and bread: refuse to say
Average steps taken per day: 19K
Miles walked: 70
Number of flights of stairs climbed: 202
Number of romantic strolls in an amazing city: countless
What I learned today: The pre-Olmec were the first the drink cocoa around 2000 BC. It has been used throughout history for medicinal uses and many people in French history drank it like coffee in the morning - yum!
What I appreciated about the day: Being able to laugh with the person you love about eating too much chocolate and how big our stomachs felt. Just being able to be ourselves and laugh made my day.
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