And then there were three

Paul arrived in Paris yesterday morning and we tried to make it an easy day for him to adjust.  He landed around 8am, but by the time he got through customs, collected his luggage and we got him to the apartment it was about 10:30 am and I asked him to take a short nap since he was exhausted.  I let him sleep until about 12:30, threw him in the shower and then we took a walk.  Being outside helps you adjust faster to the time change, so instead of taking the metro we walked about 30 minutes to the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. We found the pizzeria where Katie and I ate our first day in Paris and had a nice leisurely lunch.  We ate inside today since the tables outside were filled.  There was some great excitement when some shifty looking girls in their 20s wandering by attempted to steal cell phones off one of the outside tables!  The waiter chased them away and admonished everyone outdoors to keep careful watch over their belongings.

After a nice lunch we ambled over to the Eiffel Tower, which was quite busy.  Easter week is coming up and most of the schools here in France are on holiday, plus a lot of tourists are arriving from the US and UK. The crowds at the top of the tower forced a temporary closure of the summit, so if you wanted to go up you could only go to the second level. The line for the elevator to the second level was enormous, so we ended up taking the stairs, which for some reason had a much shorter line (also much cheaper tickets!).   We hiked up with little difficulty and were rewarded with some nice views of Paris.  Paul and I have been to the top before, and Katie and I went last week, so it was no big deal to be limited to the second stage. We wandered around there for a while and finally headed back down after getting some photos.  I always look for American or British older couples or parents with small children before handing over my camera and asking strangers to take my photo.  I figure I can run faster than older people, and that young parents can’t go anyway fast, so they won’t take off with my camera! We hung out in the park around the Eiffel tower for a while catching up and relaxing before heading home on the metro.

Today we went to the Montmartre section of Paris to see the basilica of Sacre Coeur and the artists’ neighborhoods in the area. I had always wanted to see this area of town and was so disappointed when we didn’t have time on my only previous trip to Paris in 1998.  The white basilica dominates the skyline of this section of town, and as Katie put it “Looks like a skinny Taj Mahal”.  It is built on the highest hill in Paris and we first had to hike up that steep hill to get to it.  You could take a funicular, but that’s just wimping out. This whole area was at one time a gypsum mine. The gypsum was used to maek plaster, and hence the expression Plaster of Paris!

 Inside it features some pretty stunning mosaics of the sacred heart of Jesus, and a statue of St. Peter that people rub for luck right on his feet.  In fact, his toes are all worn off!    Katie and Paul decided that we should climb to the top of the dome, so we hiked up another 720 stairs and looked out over the gargoyles to the city below.  Since we didn’t get to the top of the Eiffel tower yesterday it was nice for Paul to see out over the city – for me, it made my feet hurt and I was rethinking not taking the funicular earlier.  I was happy to see Paul and Katie enjoying it though.

After seeing the Basilica we took a walking tour of the Montmartre area using our guidebook. This is a really interesting section of town, the heart of bohemia.  It used to be a separate town from Paris with much looser drinking laws and lower prices, leading to a plethora of dance halls and speakeasies.  This area hosts the Moulin Rouge and was where people did the can-can.  Many of the great artists lived in this region and within a few short blocks we saw the former homes of Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, Van Gogh and Picasso. Of course many other artists lived here as well including Matisse and Degas. We saw many of their favorite bistros and nightspots, several of which are featured in their paintings.  This was Paul’s favorite part of the day, seeing and understanding how all the impressionists lived, ate and worked in the same few blocks, leading to the artistic collaborations and influences that shaped a movement.

My favorite part of the day was the time we spent in Place du Terte where modern day artists still ply their trade.  Sure, they offer standard tourist fare, and there’s no Impressionists in this group, but their work is halfway decent and you can see them working on their paintings, which is fun.  There’s the standard group of artists who’ll do your portrait while you wait, and a handful of caricaturists but there’s also some decent oil paintings, and it’s all fun to see.  I bought a couple of prints that I hope make it home undamaged. We bought our lunch there and ate in the shade at a nearby ancient church, originally an ancient pagan temple to the Roman god Mars, but converted to Christian purposes in the 1100s.  Katie’s favorite part was also seeing the artists because as she puts it “It was all colorful and stuff.”

We walked through a market region on the way home and bought some strawberries that looked and smelled delicious.  I think they will make a nice dessert with some ice cream and nutella.