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Okay, I woke up early (for me) today at 9am (aka 3am) and headed down for breakfast. I had my first taste of FANTASTIC Parisian coffee, and decided that I would go check out Montmartre today.
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Wow, the Basillica Sacre-Couer was way overloaded with tourists. I made it to the front gates at the bottom of the hill and decided to look for another way up. After ducking out through a little path, I came across a walkway that wound it's way around the hill, and up to the top. I then found a windey set of stairs, and took those up. Much better. I only saw about 4 people from the bottom of the hill to the top. What a great view! It was a nice day, just a little hazy, and about 24 degrees... what a nice change from frigid T.O. I got to the front doors, but there was a service going on inside, and it looked crazy busy, so I decided to come back another day. Apparently the relief above the door is supposed to be of a Saint slaying a demon, but it looks like a guy nailed to a cross to me....
what do you think?
I left there, and wandered down a side-street, where I found Passe-Muraille! Seriously. Check out the photos.
I then ran into the Montmartre cemetary, and spent a few hours wandering around. It was a bit of a humbling experience, wandering amongst the tombs of many great men and women... it was a reminder of my own mortality, and it made me wonder what kind of a legacy I will be leaving this world. Hmm...
I left the cemetary around 2pm, and wandered down one of the main streets in Montmartre... was accosted on no fewer that four occasions ("jeune homme!"), and managed to get out of there in one piece. It had started raining by that point, and I wandered through the gardens in front of the Louvre (I forget what they're called...) I'll be going back to take pictures before I leave! I then decided that since the lines were pretty short for the Louvre, I'd go take a look. I ended up getting in around 3pm, which only left me 2-1/2 hours before closing! I saw quite a bit in that time, including the mysterious smile... but I'm going back for
a more proper look. After wandering out, I had lunch at 5:30pm at the cafe across the street (i've got a pretty good story about that... which I'll save for later... let's just say that I'm shy...). I headed home for a well deserved nap, then went out again at 10:30pm. I headed to the Chatelet area, and wandered around for a good half-hour before finally deciding on a place to eat/sit. That's another great story. I'll tell ya... Had dinner, then headed home. Got home at about 1:30am, just in time to watch the first period of the hockey game (go Pens go!), and fell asleep.
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