Our last evening in France we did the most cliche thing EVER. Fresh off of several days of touring and travel, we were exhausted, but that wasn’t going to stop us. We were going on a picnic. We swung by the local grocery store and grabbed a baguette, cheese, cured meat, some fruit and a bottle of wine. Also, as a side note, my thyroid was fried at this point with no official diagnosis so I was extra tired (I would not find out there was an issue until Fall of 2017). We packed up our goods and headed out on foot to find some beautiful scenery.
After walking for a while from our hotel in Monteparnasse, we found the Jardin des Grands-Explorateurs Marco-Polo et Cavelier-de-la-Salle. One of many amazing public gardens in Paris, the Marco-Polo garden provided much needed respite and greenery to both of us. I’m not sure tourists get a lot of time to see and experience gardens as much as they do the museums, but they are equally amazing and 100% free. We also toured several museums but it was a nice change of pace to get outside and experience the fountains and hedges.
There are rows of beautifully kept trees, with hikers and bikers exploring constantly. It’s got a lovely energy and while full of people coming and going, it’s also surprisingly quiet. The air was fresh we remarked on how well the grounds were kept and how lush it was in stark contrast to the Arizona desert.
We popped a squat on one of the numerous park benches and uncorked our bottle of wine. With the use of some amazing paper cups, we celebrated our last evening in Paris. Along with the wine, we made mini sandwiches from our baguette, cheese and pear that we sliced neatly on top of the park bench using John’s Opinel pocket knife (his memento from the trip). It was truly a delicious combination, one which I will also share a recipe for in a future Food blog post. We would later learn that public drunkenness is illegal in Paris. Thankfully, we had decided to limit ourselves to one bottle of wine for the picnic. Oh well, we enjoyed every drop. I guess ignorance really is bliss.
