Wednesday, 11.07.07
We once again eased into our day, like I said we’re learning how to vacate, with a late morning breakfast and then a trip to the local Wednesday morning market at the town square in Chatou. While not quite a flea market, (price-wise) it was a fun chance to barter in French and shop for clothes and jewelry in a quieter setting.
We got off a bit later to Paris then, so we decided to check out the funky shops in Montmartre and skip the museums today. Good choice. We all had so much fun, whether in local discounteries or tourist shops (hey you can never have enough crap with Toulouse Lautrec cancan girls on it!) Even the street hawkers, which I generally hate, are selling something I value here: creativity. We were accosted by west africans who grab you and start creating color string bracelets on your arm before you even know what’s happening. The kids loved them and will probably leave them on until they rot off their bodies. A good value for 2 euros (bartered down on my part.) We stopped to watch an amazing chinese artist write Sienna’s name with an incredible flourish of birds and fishes and eiffel tower symbols and then climbed the many stairs up to Sacré-Coeur Basillica where halfway up street musicians performed songs by the Kinks for the crowd. I love this place!
Being the church-goers that we’ve become, we decided to check out Sacré-Coeur. While not as old and grand as Notre-Dame, it’s beautiful and holy all the same. A good place to meditate.
Then more aimless wandering and the best dinner we’ve had so far in a little piano cafe a bit off the beaten path. Finally, a waiter who was super friendly! The food was good, the atmosphere was quaint and the waiter really seemed to enjoy playing around with us. Plus there was only one smoker! Thouroughly enjoyable.
Then to end the evening we made our daily pilgramage to the Arc de Triomphe. (Don’t know why, just seems to be happening that way.) After trudging up to the entrance from the subway we’re informed that kids, while free, still need tickets. Too lazy to go back for them Karl and I left the kids at the base and decided to go in with our museum passes and use the bathrooms (not that easy to find in the city.) Turns out the WCs are up the spiral staircase about 3000 stairs up. This is the most work I’ve ever done for a pee, but in the end totally worth it because we were at the top and it was terrific. The sun was just setting and the lights on the Eiffel Tower were flashing and it was a stunning view. Plus we didn’t have to listen to the kids whine about the 3000 steps up (just kidding! They’ve been relatively whine-free). An amazing end to the day, next time we’ll let the kids come with us.
The days just keep getting better, I can’t wait to see what unfolds tomorrow.
