Paris travel log 2006-12-22

Lauren arrived this morning right around breakfast time.
As I already knew, she’s a much better trooper than I am and was ready to start seeing the sights right after breakfast. Mom, Dad, Dee, Sam, Lauren and I took a long metro ride to Montmartre (a hilly neighborhood) and the Sacre Couer (Sacred Heart basilica, located at the highest point in Paris). The view from the hill was spectacular – a bit blinding really in the morning light.

The church itself looked very similar to the other churches we’ve seen in Paris, though it was built much more recently (1870).
The area just outside the church was the most touristy place I’ve seen so far, complete with tacky t-shirt shops. But we made the most of it: Dee had a street artist draw a really neat portrait of Sam. And all of us enjoyed some surprisingly excellent coffee, agreeing that it was the best we’d had in all of Paris.

After the portrait was finished and paid for (“You pay what you like. I don’t know what I do. So if you like, you pay more, no?”), we had a medium-length walk back to the metro, catching glimpses of a windmill and the Montmartre cemetery along the way. Then it was lunch all together in the Bistro de Montmartre, where I had (could you guess) beef and pomme frites (French fries). Then Dee and Sam peeled off to the Picasso museum, Mom and Dad peeled off to do some shopping, and Lauren and I – finally running out of gas – headed back to the hotel for another one of those power naps.

The evening held the only big, planned event: a dinner cruise along the Seine to see Paris lit up at night. Anna and Nathan flew in just in time, and our group was finally complete. Many sights and sounds of Paris looked that much better lit up under the stars and seen from the river, and we were very happy to see the Eiffel Tower sparkling quickly, which apparently it does each hour.

After dinner, Lauren and I briefly headed out to sample some Paris nightlife. The creperie right next door to our hotel handled his crepe-making implements with a flourish. As Lauren put it, “it was like he was a knight going on a quest.” And apparently, his quest involved lots of Nutella, which was just fine with us. After snarfing the crepe, we walked a block further to a busy café/bar, where we had white wine (Lauren) and some unidentifiable Brazilian cocktail that was apparently a house specialty (Will). We laughed, talked, marveled at the beautiful French people, and finally called it a night.

Tomorrow morning we’ll be up bright and early and off to Provence. Au revior, Paris!