Day Nineteen - Jun 30, 2014
Paris, FRA
Daily Didactic
Our flat is at the top of a very old six story building, accessed through two other only slightly less old buildings that add two more flights of stairs. 139 steps. We counted. What an eight story (our personal best) walk up will do for you is get you perhaps the best relatively budget view in Paris. We are in the Montemarte neighborhood of Paris, known for its views and the Sacre Coeur Basilica. Mathilde's flat has a view of central Paris out the front windows and a view of Sacre Couer out the back window. It's pretty spectacular. We made a little breakfast and took a walk around the neighborhood of Montemarte. We started by walking by the basilica and through the tourist market that is more or less adjacent. The crowd kept us walking beyond and we enjoyed a journey through what looked like stereotypical Paris postcards. We swung back by our new favorite Italian restaurant and split a margherita pizza (one pizza, two people...take that Italy) and then retreated to our view, where Theresa painted the skyline and Brian learned a little bit about our camera. Sooner or later we made the short walk to our local grocery (a Dia) and picked up what it took to turn Italian leftovers into tonight's dinner. We ate supper perched at the back window, watching an earnest local theater troop perform Antigone in the amphitheater between us and the church. It is a 2500 year old play and was in French, so we are a little fuzzy on what was going on, but the young actors' enthusiasm kept us watching until the end. We retreated to the front window and watched the light show on the Eiffel Tower (every hour all the lights on the tour strobe for five minutes) again. A really, really nice day.
Today's Photos
