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Other entries in Paris

Day Deux

We got up, bought my daily croissant (Greg always got pain du raisin, I didn't like the looks of it), and headed over to Montmartre, one of the bohemiam areas at one time, now it can be a little seedy. It used to be the border of Paris and since everything was taxed coming into Paris, people would walk up here for tax free liquor and cigarettes. Made it a little rowdy back then (late 1800s). Also, many of the painters lived and painted here.

Walked up to the top of the hill to Sacre Coeur for a nice view of Paris. Then took Rick's walking tour of the area, including the town square where everyone wanted to draw you in pastels. A few other artists selling their wares. As we wandered down the hill, we needed coffee and chose a cafe with locals in it. As I was walking to the bathroom, I thought this looks just like the cafe in Amelie, which it turned out to be (they filmed it there). Odd we should stumble into that one.

From Montmartre we walked over the Marais district (gay and/or jewish) and saw the nice Place de Vosges where Hugo lived while he wrote H of ND. For lunch we had, hands down, the most delicious felafel pita I've ever had in my life. Run by Israelis (of course), stuffed with veges, felafel, tahini, it was soooooo good. We split another ice cream and took Rick's walking tour of the area. Then Greg had class and I went to the Louvre.

Man is that place big. I picked out some highlights I wanted to see. First, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, then Italian Renaissance and the Mona Lisa, which people say can be underwhelming but I found quite impressive. Everyone says it's smaller than you think, but with that in mind, it was actually bigger than I thought. Next to see the Venus de Milo, which was beautiful, but I still preferred Victory. Then Napoleon III's apartment (they have the whole thing inside). Finally I wanted to see the Dutch Master/ Flemish art. It was supposedly above Nap III's place. I tried every which way to get up there, asked people, everything was blocked. Finally when I returned to a guard to tell her directions ended in closed doors, she said, "Oh, that's because that section is closed today." Well why didn't you tell me that in the first place??? I didn't just want to KNOW how to get there, I wanted to GO there. So I decided I would have to return. Then went to St. Chapelle which is open til 6, but last entry is at 5:30. I arrived at 5:31 and the woman took some delight in telling me it was Ferme. Ferme. Ferme. Too late. Can't come in. Grrr. Not pleased with the French at this point, but that was really the last time I was irritated.

Met Greg back at his place, where we relaxed with some wine and then went to Chez Papa, a southwest (I think) restaurant near his neighborhood. Oh, forgot to mention Greg's neighborhood. I really liked it, it was along the Canal St. Martin, and not touristy, it had a nice neighborhood feel. It was nice to still be in central Paris, but to not feel in Tourist Central. The meal there was delicious. It was an odd salad, topped with tons of sliced sauteed potatoes (the best potatoes I've ever had, yes lots of superlatives here) and warm goat cheese. Split the chocolate mousse, which was just okay (in fact, both of my two recipes for c.m. are better than anything I tried in Paris). But still, all in all, it was a DELIGHTFUL meal, and not too expensive.

Photos / videos of "Day Deux":