Paris

This morning Bob woke up early and left with the car for his marathon. Crystal and I slept in a little bit. Well, I woke up at 8:15 and we agreed in 30 more minutes. An hour and a half later we woke up and headed over for breakfast.

We wandered in the direction of the commuter rail in town here and had difficulty locating it until I worked up my nerve to ask a local.  I must qualify this that every other interaction I have had here begins with me saying "bonjour" tentatively and then staring at the other person blankly. I managed to ask if she spoke English and like everyone else she replies in French something that I have gathered is, "a little bit". She directed us, we got lost, ran into her again and she took us directly to a bus, directed the bus driver as to where to drop us off and we were off. And people say the French are rude! What a lovely woman - actually everyone has been lovely. 

The bus dropped us a the train and the train was another adventure. On Sunday there is no attendant so we had to rely on a broken automated machine that only took change. We had no change. So I was off talking to strangers again asking for change for a 5. A very kind man helped us and we were on our way. 

Crystal and I arrived at Cite station and strolled over to Notre Dame, what a stunning cathedral. You may remember that we intended to go to mass there, but the line was UNREAL and we settled for walking around the outside and sitting in the back garden admiring the spire and people watching. We could here a 3 piece jazz group playing on the bridge to Isle Saint Louis behind us. Lovely. 

Strolling across the bridge and through Isle Saint Louis was lovely. The entire island was developed in 17th Century and we are told it has changed little over the years. It is beautiful in so many ways. Architecture, clothing shops, fromageries (cheese shops!), pastry shops, side walk cafes, everything in the windows is artfully displayed.  From there Crystal and I wandered up to the Bastille and through a market of fruits and vegetables, fish, meats, olives (mountains of olives), flowers, jewelry.  Busy and beautiful this felt like the real Paris. 

We continued on our stroll making a wrong turn that lead us up an inviting street with a park in the middle. There were gardens, fountains and children's play areas here for a long stretch. It was getting hot enough that I was thinking about getting in the fountain. It is amazing how much warmer it is here than London, it hardly seems possible that such a short distance can cause such a change in temperature. 

Crystal and I then hopped on the metro to meet Bob at the Eiffel Tower! Once there the three of us sat in the shade near the tower and heard all about Bob's marathon. He will try to enter information about it soon. But, he finished 8th (out of about 200) and won a large trophy that we must now travel with for the remainder of the journey. I think that we might make him eat his cereal out of it. 

From the tower we went together to tour Notre Dame, a stunning cathedral with one stained glass window more incredible than the next.  Tours continue throughout mass so we wandered through to the sounds of the pipe organ and the smell of incense. It was a great time to be in Notre Dame. The cathedral is very dark inside making the brilliant window colors all the more lovely.  There is something peaceful here even with the crowds of tourists wandering through endlessly. 

We went from Notre Dame to Mont Marte by way of Moulin Rouge.  The neighborhood around Moulin Rouge is uh, shall we say - colorful. The store windows leave nothing to the imagination as to what is inside. Crystal said, "I have seen more lady parts today than in my whole life". We did not linger here. 

Up the hill to Mont Marte where An American in Paris was set.  This is my favorite place that I have visited in Paris. Tiny steep streets filled with galleries and flower shops, colorful, beautiful, unbelievably quaint. Here we wandered around the square looking at art and the portrait artists ready to sketch your likeness.  There are not caricatures but true portraits and they are impressive in their speed and attention to detail. 

We ate dinner here on the square in an open air cafe.  We had crepes, sandwiches and salad. A nice light meal near the end of a hot day. We were then off to the Basilica of Sacre Couer atop Mont Marte with a stunning view of the city. 

Sacre Couer is beautiful inside, filled with glittering mosaics on the vast ceilings. We wandered through enjoying the silence in this church before heading out to appreciate the view. On the steps up to Sacre Couer there are impromptu concerts by street performers. We enjoyed an excellent guitarist and a woman dancing rather too enthusiastically on one of the landings before we hopped on a train towards the Eifell Tower. 

At the tower we hopped on a river tour on the Seine. It cruises past many of the sites in Paris, the Fine Arts institute, the Orsay, the Louvre, the Latin Quarter, Notre Dame, Isle Saint Louis, and under so many incredible bridges with sculptures and statues. My favorite moment on this ride was cruising past the locals as they tangoed by the river near Isle Saint Louis. Where else would you see people dancing the tango at 11 pm on a Sunday? The music playing during the cruise was Gershwin from American In Paris, La Vie en Rose, Oh Champs-Elysees - perfect. 

We hopped in the car and drove (twice) around the Arc de Triumph, past the Place de Concorde and back towards the hotel. We did get rather lost coming back here but we kept our cool and got in late and collapsed. 

Today we are off to points unknown - likely Mont Blanc. Hope to hear from you all in comments!