Day 2 in Paris - Visiting Cool Neighborhoods and Seeing the French Can Can - 5/9

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The next morning, we walked around for a bakery to buy some croissants and observed that at 8:00 am, the streets were empty. We later realized that this was considered early, especially for a weekend. After a light breakfast of croissants and fruit we went to visit Notre Dame. Unfortunately, no Quazimoto or gypsies, but we did get some great pictures of the many gargoyles perched upon the higher parts of the church. There was a quaint garden next to Notre Dame along the Siene and spent some time there admiring the views. We initially intended to visit La Concergerie (where Marie Antoinette was held prior to her execution) and wanted to see the famous stained glass windows in the Sainte-Chapelle, but felt that the cost was not quite worth a possibly poor stained glass light show on a cloudy day. We then walked around St Germain (a cute neighborhood with cobblestone roads, a plethora of cafes and restaurants to choose from, narrow alleyways with fun and sometimes hidden restaurants, stores, etc) and selected a Greek take out place to buy a gyro for lunch. We figured we’re closer to Greece in Paris than in the States so we may as well taste the differences. It was definitely delicious and seemed to be a popular choice amongst locals and tourists.

After lunch, we returned to our hotel to partake in siesta. Somehow, the whole siesta thing does not take a lot of time to get used to. We then got ready to head out to Moulin Rouge to watch the only show in Paris that does the French Can Can. When we got to the area (Montmarte), first thing we saw when we came up from the underground was the large red wheel we’ve all come to associate with the place. The funny thing about this show was that a cabaret show can only be so elegant… it was pretty tacky, but more in your face, loud and obnoxious than anything else. Bobby and I enjoyed our experience and did not regret the Euros we had to give up to attend. We do, however, recommend booking only the show. We saved 130 Euros by eating dinner before the show rather than eating at the venue, prior to the show. Booking only the show does come with a bottle of champagne, so that was nice. By the way, while the area around Moulin Rouge is considered “red light”, I did not feel that all of it was sketchy as I expected. The streets behind the theater were filled with clothing stores, cafes and neat little shops and apparently, if you venture a little further from the red wheel, there are a few quaint and romantic neighborhoods to be found.

It was past 11:00 by the time we left the area and night had fallen. We wanted to see a couple of sights at night so we went back to the Arc de Triomphe and Louvre to take some night photos. Definitely pretty and well worth it (even if it meant trekking in my heals!).

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Photos

No Disrespect to Notre Dame
but Bobby as a Boilermaker had to boo his arch rival

Siene River
Notre Dame in the background

Arc de Triomphe by night
Yes, we stood in the middle of traffic and got somebody to take a picture for us.