By now we are addicted to breakfast on the balcony. I know we should be sitting in a cafe, but we love our balcony. Today we order one breakfast because we have quite a stash of cheese pate and kiwi. We head out for Montmatre.
In the metro we hear the Chicken Dance--even though Dennis is Pa Dutch he restrains himselve from dancing--after all I%26#39;ve got the Chablis highlights, the scarf, the attitude etc. and I don%26#39;t want to have to kill him on foreign soil on our 35th anniversary.
We get off at Abessess and are smart enough to patiently wait for the elevator to get out of the station. You read that Paris is a city of neighborhoods and this is more than evident in Montmatre. This part of Paris had a definate bohemian artsy feel. I had read several official walking tours of the area but the bottom line isif you wander up the hill you%26#39;ll get to Sacre Coeur so we did just that. I find the windmill (ok I did have to backtrack a bit) and I liked looking at the artists in the square. Of course we sat on the steps looking at the view and listening to street music.
As we took the back streets down the hill I really wanted to get a picture of Moulin Rouge. We politely asked a women coming out of her house for direction (in our best attempted French) and she was very helpful-as was everyone we met on our visit. We ended up by the Pigalle Metro (after following direction down, down, always down and then to the right) and being a typical tourist T am glad we saw this street. I take pictures of Chat Noir and Moulin Rouge--the pictures look cooler than the real thing. Compared to similar districts in Phila or NYC I would say that like everything else Paris does this industry with more class and style than what we see in the US.
We head back to Concorde and I am impressed by the obelisk. You just stand and stare at something that is actually from Luxor standing outside with hieroglyphics on it for everyone to see. We then sit on some of the loungy chairs in the Tuillaries and decide what the hay--its only 11:30, lets Louvre it.
As with the Effle Tower, if you are in Paris for the first time you can%26#39;t avoid the Louvre. The beauty of the museum pass is that you don%26#39;t wait in line, you just walk in!!
The museum courtyard under the pyramid reminds me of Grand Central Station. It has the same scale and sounds the same with that busy echo sound. I almost expected to hear the train announcement voice--%26quot;Mona Lisa express now boarding gate Denon--stops include Winged Victory, Fancy Ceilings and Lots of People taking videos of Who Knows What%26quot;
I hope people don%26#39;t take this as sacrilege but I could not resist taking a picture of all the people taking a picture of Mona baby. And this wasn%26#39;t a crowded day. Den wanted to see the ancient collection and nothing can describe just how much stuff this place has. I wanted to see the Marley Horses(look at my screen name) and we were lucky enough to have the room to ourselves. By then we just wanted OUT!!!
On the Batobus back we actually saw them filming the Davinci Code, we actually saw Tom Hanks!!!
Then we wandered into the Latin Quarter a little and found a little eating place with some local people joking with the barkeep and waiters. Dinner/lunch was a fabulous plat du jour for 15e, I had some of the best food ever. Because it was August and slow the chef came out and talked to
us--again the tourist I felt special and honored. I have a herb garden at home and am somewhat of a foody. I learned that even though I think I season at the right time I should wait until I am ready to plate the food and then sprinkle on a little fresh rosemary and parsley, then present the plate.
We had considered getting a reservation for dinner somewhere for this anniversary but we could not have planned a better meal at a little place somewhere in Paris where I learned when to sprinkle my rosemary.
So we wandered back, picked up some emporter sandwiches and went back to the balcony.
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Tom Hanks, too cool. Paris WOW! Could you just keep writing for the next 28 days!! That way it will stay real untill I%26#39;m there!
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