Day 5 - Paris - Where the Throngs and the Songs Continue

For our 1st full day in Paris, we went out looking for an authentic Parisian experience. We decided on having a petite dejeuner Francais (breakfast) at a real Parisian cafe.


Handler 1 had pain au chocolat for the third morning in a row, and Handler 2 had a croissant. How French is that?!

Our first stop of the day was the artist collective of Monmartre. We decided to ride the funiculr to the top of the hill partly because it's a bit of a climb up, and partly because it was included on our metro passes, but mostly because funiculars are cool! It's fun to say, too. Funicular. Hee hee.

All the way up to the Bsilica de Sacre-Coeur.

Eh, hving just seen Notre Dame the day before, we were not all that impressed. We also examined the crypt beneath the basilica, which contained this morbid stained glass window, which foreshadows the sights which awaited the Handlers later in the day.

The Handlers then wound their way down the hill and through Montmarte, to the famous Moulin Rouge.

Not as impressive as in the movies.

Next on the Handlers' list was the catacombs. For those not in the know, a long time ago Paris intellectuals were trying to figure out why everyone was getting sick all the time, and someone eventually came up with the idea that it might have something to do with the overcrowded cemeteries in the heart of the city. So, in a tremendous act of civic "improvement", the entire cemetery of Les Innocents was exhumed and reburied in stone quarries. These became the catacombs, now a major tourist attraction!

After long flight of steps down (No seriously, what is it with Parisians and spiral staircases? The Handlers have been up and down so many in the past few days they're getting dizzy!) and about a kilometer long jaunt through spooky drkened hallways in the quarry rock, we came to the main attraction...the bones.

Yeah, it's kind of spooky. Walls and walls of that stuff, sometimes stcked into interesting patterns. After arising from the depths, Handler 1 had no other plans for the day. She's been trying to keep the sightseeing to 3 items a day, but as Handler 2 pointed out, it was only 4:30. There should be lots of time to get additional sightseeing done before dinner. So off we went!

We started with the Place du Concorde, which is what the Parisians (glass is half full people that they are) named this square after they had used it to publicly guillotine first their royal overlords, and then their original revolutionary leaders.

We stopped by the Seine, for an obligtory photo, before continuing on through the Tuileries gardens.

Next we went to view the outside of the Louvre (which ws closed) to make Handler 2 feel better about all he missed yesterday. The Louvre really is just too big to do in one sitting. We passed by a part of the museum where you could see inside...to a wing we didn't even set foot into the day before.
We also stopped by the most famoud place in France (that isn't there anymore). The Place de Bastille, marking approximately where the Bastille prison used to stand before it was razed. By this time Handler 2 was hungry, which apparently made his feet hurt more, so it was time for dinner.

The restaurant, which Handler 1 chose from it's description in her Frnce travel book, is situated right next to a circus, and is filled with evil clown paranphrenalia.

Dinner at the Clown Bar was actually very good. The proprietor there was very nice to us even though we were way early for diners in Paris (he actually rn out of the restaurant after seating us and quickly came bck with bread to serve!). He explained the menu, and even gave us drinks on the house! Afterwards we heded back to the hotel, knowing we had to start packing and getting ready for tomorrow. However, we made a stop off at the local gelato place first. One thing is certain, America needs more gelato!

Gingerbread on the left, Raspberry and Chocolate on the right, both scooped into flower shapes..

Tomorrow, we hop an early train for Metz, where we'll pick up the vehicle we'll be driving around the rest of France. If all goes well, maybe I'll be feeling good enough to show up in a few photos this time (I know that's what you've all bee waiting for).