Paris, take 4

day 26 – jour vingt-six

I can’t believe we’ve only got one more day in Paris (sort of) and then we’re headed home! It’s been such an amazing experience, if stressful and exhausting at times.

Between the museums/sites we could access with our museum pass and places we knew we wanted to visit, we’d checked off a good many already and planned out our last two days with the remainder. Today we planned to (grab breakfast then…) head to Montmartre and the Sacre Coeur where there also happened to be a grape harvest festival going on, then go see the unicorn tapestries at the Cluny Museum. And off to Versailles tomorrow!

We had a leisurely morning and finally got going around 11. India was around this morning so we hung out and chatted a bit since we weren’t sure we’d see her much more before we left! On our way to the metro, we swung in Ernest & Valentin, a patisserie just down the block from the apartment. Again, I wish I would make stuff like this at home! It’s making me drool just thinking about it. Mom spotted these spinach quiches and oh they were good. Probably made with a whole ton of butter.

We also grabbed another apple pastry and decided to save it for our midday snack. With that, we used our second to last metro ticket to ride up to Montmartre. It was obvious there was an event going on because no where else we’d been was as crowded. Straight out of the metro station we were coughed up onto the store-lined street that led up towards the Sacre Coeur. One of my stand out memories from the last time I was here were the people with “FREE HUGS” signs hanging on their chest… Now I’m a little less naive. From the metro, it was up, up, up. Since we just looooovve walking, we took the stairs all the way up, although there’s also a funicular available that takes people up to the church.

We of course wanted to explore the festival, but I kept insisting that we climb to the top of the Sacre Coeur. I remembered doing it before and wanted Mom to experience it, and see the view from the top. Unfortunately our pass didn’t get us in and it was a busy day so we had to wait in line for a while. Which gave me plenty of time to stare at all the nasty black stuff? covering parts of the church. I suppose it must have been pollution collected in rain and then left on the rock. It would be SO rewarding to take a pressure washer to it and clean that beautiful stone off.

As we climbed the skinny spiral stairways and narrow walkways on the roof, I imagined the monks who would have done so in the past to do maintenance. There were tiny footholds on extremely steep, not to mention high, roofs that led to the bell towers. No way you could pay me to go out there. It was really overcast today but the view was still spectacular.

After we’d had enough of the roof, we spiraled our way back down to ground level and poked our head inside the church. I always feel like an intruder when I’m in a church while people are praying. We stayed very quiet while we walked around admiring all of the mosaics in the church. Some people were less so.

When we headed back outside we heard singing and were drawn to a handful of guys singing a cappella to a beautiful bride and groom. Everyone applauded when they finished and we moved on to investigate the vendors. Closest to the church there were a lot of wine and oyster bars and half the crowd seemed to be wandering around with wine glasses. Made me nervous considering how easy it would be to break one! Following the stream of tents, a few more memories came back to me of the area and I started insisting we find a place to get crepes before we left. The wine and oysters eventually gave way to the art and souvenir shops which sucked us right in. Mom found some small posters and a couple other items. Finally she spotted a little hole-in-the-wall creperie that looked appealing.

The interior of this place (Le Tire-Bouchon Creperie) was completely covered in little notes from customers. The ones that I could see from where we sat mostly looked like love notes to the cook or Paris. We of course added our own before we left. The kitchen was right in the room where we sat and the cook was good-natured enough to let Mom take some pictures of him. He must get that a lot being in such a touristy area. Mom ordered French onion soup and I got a savory salmon crepe. Mmmmm. This little restaurant only got more interesting when we asked to use the toilet. It was like a fun house that just kept unfolding; around the corner from where we’d sat, there was a whole other room down a step, then a downstairs with a piano (probably loads of fun down there on weekend nights), and finally the toilet upstairs. It’s so fascinating to think of how places like these were built.

Satiated, we started our way back to the metro and onward to the Cluny Museum. We took the scenic route until we ended up back on the store-lined street that let straight down to the metro stop. We considered trying to go by the Moulin Rouge, but it was quite out of the way. Figuring out the metro routes was really getting pretty fun because it was like a giant puzzle, just had to fit the right pieces together. I’ve been using the Next Stop Paris app which has been really helpful too. Somehow it worked out nearly perfectly with our ten metro tickets, and our last couple took us to the Cluny Museum.

We had to circle the block once before we figured out where the entrance to the museum was. A lot of the museum is undergoing renovations so we didn’t get to see the heads from Notre Dame, but the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries were the main reason we visited. They have a long tangled history and have even been refurbished/mended a few times in history. Some of the repair jobs were definitely not on par with the original and you can see the color differences in the thread. The thing I found most amazing about these was the detail despite their enormity. There are 6 tapestries in all, one for each of the senses. I know, there’s technically only 5 senses… but according to Jean Gerson, “There are six senses, five outside and one inside, which is the heart” (1402). I quite agree with that sentiment. We have a little footstool at home with a mini version of one of the tapestries and now I’m really curious which sense it is.

I guess the Cluny Museum isn’t super well known or popular because it was pretty quiet in there. I enjoyed just sitting and admiring the tapestries for a while. Once we’d gotten our fill, we left the museum and wandered around Luxembourg Gardens, which were just a couple blocks away. It was such a nice fall day! I’m definitely a country girl at heart and love space and quiet, but it’s really interesting to see how the tiny apartments of the big city lend themselves to people spending more time outside in parks like the Luxembourg Gardens. People were chatting, reading, just hanging out in the sun. It looked like an extremely enjoyable way to spend a couple hours after work if you didn’t have a big property to go take care of.

It was pretty comical when we went to leave the gardens. We headed back to the spot where we entered, only to find the gate locked shut! So like caged animals do, we walked along the fence until we found another gate, unlocked luckily! Mom was all turned around at that point and kept insisting we walk the opposite direction from where I knew we need to go. We’d passed a restaurant on the way in that had escargot on their menu which reminded me that we HAD to get some while in Paris. Mom took a bit of convincing but she gave in eventually.

It was a really good thing we weren’t in a hurry… the service at the restaurant was SO slow. I don’t know why either because it wasn’t particularly busy…whatever. Eventually the waitress came and we just ordered an appetizer plate of escargot. The waitress asked if we’d had them before and I told her mom hadn’t. She looked at mom, totally straight faced, and said “Be careful, they’re alive!” and kind of growled. The look on Mom’s face was priceless, it went from “haha funny to OMG are you serious?”. We both got a kick out of that. After waiting forever for the waitress, the snails actually came pretty quick. They arrived, the green liquid still boiling in the shells. Totally witchy. If they weren’t a splurge delicacy, they’d be perfect for Halloween! I’m not sure what herbs the snails were cooked with but it made me think of pesto and they were delicious. Escargot is definitely one of those foods that’s really talked up, even though they’re not that weird consistency or flavor wise. Mom got over her nervousness real quick and I think she liked them, and was maybe even a little disappointed that they weren’t more exotic tasting.

Happy that we’d had a fulling (and undramatic!) day, we took our time walking back to the apartment. Since we’re off to Versailles in the morning, this was pretty much it for our time in Paris proper. It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster with my energy level, but I’m really glad we stayed this long and had a chance to get more adjusted. Just a couple days wouldn’t have been nearly as enjoyable. We’re hoping to get a decently early start tomorrow morning, so it’s to bed for me!