Thursday, July 12, 2018

BLOGGED ALONG THE WAY: VIVA...I MEAN, BONJOUR! EDITION: JUNE 17 - PART 2

Wow, sorry about that. The day was so long that it felt like two completely separate eras.  I call them BN and AN (before nap and after nap.)

OK, so I left off where we had reconvened with our friends back in the lobby.  We decided that before we did anything else, we needed crepes.  I mean, we NEEDED them.  So we set off and found a delightful little creperie (which is too a word, stupid spell check!) down the street from our hotel called Les Embruns.  We proceeded therein to eat many crepes and have coffee.  I got one that had dark chocolate and coconut on it, and almost had to be restrained from rubbing it all over my body in sheer delight due to its deliciousness.  It had been a while since I'd had a crepe, so I can't tell you for certain if it was the best place for crepes in all of Paris, but it had to be pretty darn close.  This place was also the site where the first picture of me on this trip that didn't make me look like a dehydrated sea witch was taken.

 Oh, coffee, you're so funny! I love you.

After we left, we went to the Gare de Lyon train station and got three day passes for the subway (underground?) so we could get to where we needed to go.  Trouble was, once we got into the station proper, we could not read the map.  Now, some of you may have been in Paris before and probably thought that it was easy to get around, but not us. I've been on several different subway systems in my life and had no trouble getting from place to place, but to me the map of the Paris subway looked like a wind shield that someone smashed their head into.

Imagine this in all different colors and in a language you don't speak. Easy peasy!

We did meet a nice lady that got us started on our way (bless you, random Parisian!)  From there we made our way to the Sacre Cour!  We had to climb, like, four thousand steps to get up to it, but it was worth it!  It was an absolutely beautiful church with a breathtaking view of the city below.






It was very crowded there and we didn't attempt to go in, but that was fine. We enjoyed looking around outside!  After taking some pictures, we walked over to a street in Montmontre that was lined with souvenir shops, bakeries, restaurants, and it had a square that was where a lot of artists were selling their work!  I bought a lot of art, you guys.  Like...a lot.  For all I know they have little sweat shops at home where people make this stuff and they sell it here and pretend to be artists, but I didn't care, it was real art and nothing massed produced!  I was so excited!  This is what I'd been looking for!!  We also saw a lot of artists doing sketches and caricatures of people right there, but we didn't want to stop and have anything done, because it would have taken too long.  Plus...I don't need a picture of myself to hang anywhere. I can look at myself in a mirror anytime I want! :)

 

We walked around some more and I bought some kind of...well, I don't know what it is, exactly, but it is delicious.  They are some kind of cookies or cakes or something like that from a place called the Biscuiterie de Montmontre. That website doesn't tell me what I bought, and I can't read the label.  For all I know the're for dogs, but they taste good and I don't care.  I have a feeling that I'm going to fall in love with these things and never be able to get them again, which sucks, but as far as that goes, it just means I'll have to appreciate them (i.e. not share them with Steve) more.  We stopped at a cafe at the end of the street and had dinner outside.  I got a croque madame, which is basically a fried ham and cheese sandwich with an egg on top. Sorry for talking about food so much, but this is the first time in months I haven't worried about what I was eating, so humor me this time, please!

Mrs. Sandwich, if you're nasty.

From there we walked a ways until we came to the Moulin Rouge!  It was located in a section of town that seemed a lot like a clean Burbon Street.  I know it isn't the original building and all of that, but it was still fun to see in person!



 Lot of nipples around this place, too.

It was finally sort of getting dark by this time (although I'm not sure when the sun goes down here.) So we decided to end our day and headed back to the hotel.  I have no idea how long we'd been up by this point, but it felt like days.  I know I keep talking about how tired I am, but this is a new level of tired for me. I think that maybe I'll survive it, though.  At least I hope so.  I want to see if Spain makes it to the World Cup Finals! Shut up, I'm invested now.

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