On our third full day, we had an afternoon food tour planned on the Montmarte area of Paris, which is further outside of the core area along the Seine where we could walk so we did some additional forms of transportation. But first, William and I used our extra minutes in the morning while John was still getting ready to return to Rue Cler for our croissants and drinks (chocolat for the boy and an allonge - similar to an Americano - for the me) and to stock up on treats to take home from the chocolate and honey store.
After we dropped off our goodies and collected John, we grabbed a taxi to Notre Dame. Since its fire in April 2019, the historic cathedral has been walled off for reconstruction and renovation with the goal of completion by 2024. I was expecting it to be a quick visit since we could only walk around outside, but it was surprisingly intriguing to see the guts of the structure and the construction site, as well as the detail that was printed on the construction wall regarding the rescue of some of the artifacts inside the church and how the recovery efforts were done in such fragile and dangerous conditions. So we ended up spending our full 90 minutes of allotted time before my alarm sounded to make us leave for Sacre Coeur basilica, our next stop, which we accessed via the metro.
Sacre Coeur is in the Montmarte district of Paris which is a hilly, artistic neighborhood historically known for its famous inhabitants such as Picasso and Dali, and the still famous (infamous) Moulin Rouge. We had already encountered more people and peddlers at Notre Dame than in the prior two days and the streets around Sacre Coeur took that to another level. It felt much more dirty, big city, watch your wallet than the rest of our time. William got some photos and video of rats scurrying around at the garbage cans! But that just added to the bohemian feel, right?! It was fine. The views from the entrance of the basilica were quite amazing. That hill overlooks most of the city....just not the Eiffel Tower. There was a story there we started to overhear from another tour guide but didn't completely catch.
Our own tour that day was a food tour that had us as part of a party of 11 walking throughout the neighborhood trying foods and collecting more food for a final sit down meal of sorts at the tour company's offices, which looked like a wine cave. First up was macarons, a treat our family had found overrated in the U.S. Now we know it's because they're not fresh enough. In Paris, they were amazing! At this stop, we each got to pick 2 macarons and 2 pieces of chocolate to eat. We also got a coupon for a future purchase, which we redeemed later than evening for 15% of box of 12 macarons (basically every flavor they had) that we munched on for the next 3 days until they got stale. I can't believe I didn't get a photo of that box!
This was where we bought the baguettes for the end meal. Our guide, Abril, pointed out the window signage which indicated they were best in class award winners and that if we saw that in any shop window it was a good sign!
This is a public water fountain. There was way too much plastic water bottle usage in the city. Our guide said there were 60 (or 150?) fancy fountains like this but she only knew where two were. We had taken our water bottles to refill and didn't get a chance to very often.
I think the apartment above this shop was where Picasso lived? The details are escaping me now, but we walked up onto a little bluff and all looked as Abril pointed to a corner. I was either catching my breath from the walk or shedding layers with my coat because the weather was so warm and lovely.
This is the meat shop where the various sausages were purchased. Even though we walked past it twice I didn't get a picture of the chicken in the front window. Abril said it's a rule they have to be displayed with their feet still on and then the butcher will remove them? That's how you know you're getting a quality chicken. Maybe I'd just stick to cheese....but before we collected our cheese we went to a tiny creperie. That had to make 11 crepes so we had some time. (Spoiler alert: they actually were not very good! We found crepes in France to be too eggy for our tastes.) We found some tables in an common space and chatted with the fellow tour members. There were four travelers (two retired couples) from rural Connecticut who were finishing up a two-week European bus tour. They had covered 9 large cities in 12 days or something crazy like that. It sounded exhausting. There was a retired couple from Colorado. And there was a 30-something couple from Puerto Rico. Everyone else had been to Moulin Rouge show on the trip and spoke highly of it - including the dinner! Guess we can keep that in mind for a future trip.
Back at the office - in the basement wine cave - we gathered around the table for bread, cheese, meats and wine, and heard a bit of history about the foods and neighborhood. It was a really lovely day. And I'm very proud of William for all of the stinky cheeses and weird meats (including a pate that I didn't want to try either) that he sampled in addition to the comfortable bread and cheeses and salamis that he loved. The Coke to drink and eclair for dessert were good for him, too!
After the tour, we went back to Sacre Coeur, with a stop to buy our macarons before taking the funicular (tram) up to the top. It cost the same ticket as a metro train, so when I bought tickets in the morning from the kiosk, I bought a 10-pack. So we had out, up and home already purchased! I did make us walk down from the basilica to the return trip metro station....
City view from up top. There were a lot of people - many young people (not sure if they were teenagers or a bit older) sitting on the steps drinking alcohol and there was a band playing and people selling all sorts of trinkets. This was a Tuesday evening around 6 p.m. It felt weird but also....I guess what else do young people in a city do?
When we entered the basilica, there was a French language mass underway. I don't speak much French, but I do speak Catholic, and it was very obvious where in the mass we were. We sat for a bit in the visitor section and watched and then walked around admiring the architecture. I got separated from the guys during Our Father and found William when it was time to share the peace. I gave him a big hug and he looked at me funny. I said Peace be with you, and gestured back to the altar and congregation and he got a big grin. He hadn't been monitoring the service like I had. I was glad we saw the mass; I don't think I would have been comfortable to be in the congregation and actually take communion and participate. But I do wish I hadn't been quite so rush and had been able to sit through the entire service versus watching and walking.
After we got back to the hotel, dinner wasn't of interest thanks to the food tour. William wanted to play with his souvenir army men and just hang out on his phone after a day without wifi. John wanted to go in search of a bridge near the Eiffel Tower that he's seen in a lot of movies. I chose to join him. We found the bridge and were treated to the 10 p.m. light show as well. We stopped at L'Eclair to share fish and chips on our way back. We also completed our day of Remy by seeing more rats at the Eiffel Tower. There was a couple sitting on a bench on the lawn and one was crawling under their bench near their feet. I recently read an article about how COVID was so good for rats in NYC; I wonder if it was the same for Paris....
