We got kind of a late start this morning because of our full day of walking yesterday. But it was all good as we did not have a specific plan for the day. We did try and find some cheaper shops for shopping, and after that, Nadine said she was interested in seeing this one specific castle, so here is where the halarity begins....
I know nothing, and I mean NOTHING of French history, or buildings, or anything of that nature, so when Nadine said that she wanted to see the Bastille castle, Kristin and I just followed her lead. She had been to Paris once before, and she is super smart, and European, so we figured she knew what she was talking about.
We get off the metro and start looking where this castle was supposed to be. We saw nowhere that could even kind of have a castle nearby. So we walk around for a while, go into some shops, figuring we will see this castle, because hey, its a castle, it cannot easily hide right?
Well, we get tired of walking (as we have done so MUCH this trip!) and sit on a bench near a tourist information booth. Nadine decides to ask somebody about this castle.....
She comes back to Kristin and me looking a little shameful and informs us that this castle she was so interested in seeing was actually destroyed during the storming of Bastille in 1789. So, needless to say, we were a couple hundred years late in being able to view this castle. Kristin and I thought it was halarious that we were searching for a non-existent castle, so we took a picture of us mocking Nadine to keep this memory forever.
After that fiasco, Kristin and I just wanted to relax, and there happened to be a movie theater right there on that street, so Nadine ventured off on her own for a bit, and the lazy cousins sat in a movie theater and watched The Reader. Now, it may seem silly to go all the way to Paris and sit in a theater, but we did learn some more French because of the French subtitles, so that was educational, and, we really just had to get off our feet. And I think that a French movie theater is a step above just staying in our hotel room. PLUS, what better way to feed my popcorn craving than at a movie theater, right? WRONG. We must have found the only movie theater in all of France that does not offer refreshments. My popcorn plan was foiled once again.
We met up with Nadine back at the hotel, went out to find some fromage (cheese) and wine, and panned to go to our picnic at the Eiffel Tower, but our picnic plans were foiled by pouring down of rain. We ended up having a lovely evening in our hotel though. The couple stores we found still did not have any microwave popcorn, and our lovely microwave that was provided for us in our room again went unused. But, we put Mama Mia on in the background (I don't care what people say, I LOVED that movie). And Kristin and I taught Nadine the wonder that is Phase 10 (a card game). Again, falling asleep, not hard. Being a tourist sure is tiring...