I hope that you enjoy the photographs and stories. If you have any questions about any of the places or our journey please leave a comment. ;) It was a wonderful journey and I feel so blessed to have shared this trip with such a wonderful friend!!!
Monday, October 4, 2010 (Recap)
We had planned on going to a breakfast place called Coquelicot that I had read about on the Hip Paris blog. However after finding our destination we found out it was currently closed for renovations. So we ended up across the street at Cafe St. Jean. This happened to be a wonderful happenstance. I ordered pain au chocolat and really, really, really great cafe creme.
The croissant was flaky, buttery (mmmmmm buttery) and so delicious. [I wish I could have brought an entire suitcase home of coffee and pain au chocolats, chocolat croissants].
Monsieur B had an apple tart and cafe creme. He really loved both. We chit chatted about what we would like to do that day, we people watched, did a lot of, "mmmmmm-ing" over our petit dejeuner and let the caffeine wake up our brains.
As Monsieur B enjoyed his second cup of cafe I thought about how beautiful his cup of cafe looked and I started sketching his cafe creme with a green Sharpie in one of my homemade sketch pads. He then spilled sugar on my sketch pad. I guess he wanted sugar with his cafe creme, LOL. (I found some of those sugar crystals last week while browsing through the little sketch pads full of doodles and directions. I love those types of unexpected memories and souvenirs).
We went into a few of the shops while winding through the streets of Montmartre.
We spied a cat up in a window, a tattoo parlor, and noticed that even the construction workers dressed nicer. I admired the curtains, the way that the cobblestones each had their own delightful shade, and how my gray sweater tights made wrinkles reminiscent of elephant legs.
As we continued to walk we found the fabric shops! As to Monsieur B's delight I was a fast shopper, quickly perusing 2 shops and settling on 2 meters of hot pink cotton with white stripes.
We used our Paris Visite pass to ride the funicular ride up to the Sacre de Coeur. The view from the top was spectacular.
We enjoyed the music. I told Bill all about the ending scenes from Amelie and her peering down from the top of the Sacre de Coeur. I could hear the soundtrack playing in my head all day as we walked around. It was at the top of the Sacre de Coeur that we spotted armed guard number one.
We rode the funicular back down to the bottom and as someone tried to grab my arm I yelled, "NON!!!", loudly. It made Monsieur B laugh but it worked. Prior to this a friendly, "non merci" had done the trick.
As we headed to the cemetery we FOUND the Cafe de Deux Moulins from Amelie!!!
We continued our journey to the Cimetiere de Montmartre in search of Edgar Degas's grave.
While wondering the cemetary we talked to another wondering tourist. We sat on a bench, admired the beautiful tombs and head stones and then finally we found the grave of Edgar Degas.
As we walked back to the hotel we were noting restaurants that we may want to try out for dinner. (Stopping and gazing at the menus and noting particularly the restaurant that walked by nightly that never had any customers....) We stopped by our favorite creperie. Bonjour! Deux jambon y fromage s'il vous plait! :) We got our favorite crepes before stopping at the hotel for a quick directions grab and then into the metro for our next adventure.
We decided that we would spend the rest of the day at the Notre Dame, ride a boat on the Seine and end at the Eiffel tower because it was supposed to rain the next day. While in route on the Metro Monsieur B proceeded to get snubbed, kicked and the same man hit me (lightly) in the face with his newspaper twice. I found out later that he got agitated that either his bag got pushed by Monsieur B or Monsieur B's bag pushed him? The incident was actually pretty funny because we just stared at each other trying to figure out what that was all about.
We had remembered seeing the sign for the Batobus while we were walking around the Place de Concorde the night before. So we quickly found the Batobus, bought our tickets and my obsession for the Batobus began. The only drawback about the Batobus is that the only seating is covered. This is good if there is bad weather but bad if you want to be outside feeling the wind in your face. This is where we wanted to be. This portion is standing room only or sit on a metal portion that has bolts on it (not meant for sitting). Hence the reason why Monsieur B did not like the Batobus as much as I did. J t'aime Batobus!
Riding along the Seine I loved seeing the artist with their easels set up along the banks, we even saw lovers on blankets, people walking their dogs, people peeing? and someone peeping in the bushes? (I'm telling you the Batobus is great for people watching). The boat stopped at 8 different different major attractions. You can get on and off as many times as you would like. We rode the boat to the Notre Dame. We took a few pictures before going inside. I really loved seeing the Gargoyles.
While inside we lit a candle in memory of Joseph, listened to the echoes of many people whispering, and foot steps shuffling.
We stopped and looked at the memorial to Joan of Arc and the beautiful stained glass windows. When we were outside and walked through the gardens
we noticed more armed guards and I wondered if the Burqa ban had been passed.
The gardens were beautiful and we walked down the Pont des Arts bridge and looked at the many padlocks with names locked on the bridge. We then hopped back on the Batobus and headed back towards the Eiffel tower. (je t'aime Batobus)
While in line at the Eiffel tower we met a very nice group of tourists from the UK and the US. We also noticed a heavy military presence. We group told us that the Eiffel tower had been closed the day before and had only opened an hour before we had arrived.
I kept telling Monsieur B the entire time we were in line that I would go to the top with him but they were letting people got to the 2nd level. We purchased our tickets and climbed aboard the elevator. The view from the Eiffel tower was spectacular and very windy.
Everything was going well and I was taking lots of photos until I happened to look straight down and realized that the people looked like ANTS!
Suddenly my legs turned to jelly....
my forehead and hands began to sweat and I had to get down on my hands and knees.
Monsieur B really enjoyed this part, especially since I had been boasting about wanting to go to the top. He took the steps to go up a little further and I stayed below as he directed me to get his, "perfect" shot.
We stepped inside and got a snack to let me recover. I ended up with the loudest case of hiccups.
Have I mentioned how much I love the Batobus?
On the Metro on our way back to the hotel to rest before dinner we saw whom was nicknamed, "boy with the long green coat" enter the train. It was a really, "fierce" coat, not to mention his really, "fabulous" shoes and hair, LOL!!! [I had to say fierce and fabulous just to get under Mr. C and Monsieur B's skin a little bit! Love ya!]
We ate at Cafe de Luna on Boulevard de Clichy. I ate steak and frites. It was served with a side of sauce with tiny bits of onions that tasted like reduced french onion soup? I was so hungry that I devoured all of it. Monsieur B was so happy to see me finish a, "real meal".
Tonight was also the night that we had our first creme brulee in Paris! We really enjoyed sitting outside and the leisurely pace of the meal until the wind and light drizzle suddenly felt freezing cold. "l'addition s'il vous plait" (the check please)
On our walk back to the hotel Monsieur B got kicked really hard while walking down the street. I got really upset about this. I didn't see this happen and we have no idea why it happened. Between the twisted ankle, 2 kicks and all of the walking I know his legs were sore.
We had another beautiful fun filled day, Monsieur B fell fast asleep, I need to write out tomorrow's directions, my feet are killing me, my mind is racing..... I can't wait until tomorrow's adventure we are going to Versailles!
I really enjoyed looking through these photos. I'm so jealous. I hope all is well.
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