On top of the World, or at least Paris

 

Today we woke up and decided that we wanted to visit the Sacre-Coeur cathedral that I wanted to see when I was here last time but didn't have the chance to. So then we got all of our stuff together because we had to leave the hotel. We put all our stuff away and suited up for the day and then headed out. As it happened our bags were really heavy and were going to be the bane of our existence for the rest of the day. We got on a metro and then soon got on another to reach the Sacre-Coeur.

We got off the metro with the rest of the people in the world and headed upstairs. When we got up, we had to go through a really crowded street full of people who were selling us stuff and the like. I really hate those streets. It had been closed to cars and because of that the souvenir shops had shoved all of their stands into the middle of the streets in order to force people to look at them. It was stroller city and tons of people just standing in the middle of the flow of traffic which was really annoying. I hated that street. Then we went up on these like little tram things to the top of the hill to the church because our bags were so heavy we didn't want to take the million stairs to the top. When we got there it had a pretty incredible view of the city.

After we took some pictures, we went up some more stairs to get into the church. Again people were selling Eiffel towers and these little wooden trains with names on them and such right where everyone was trying to walk, so you had to watch your step which was really annoying but they get your attention so it works for them. I just hate getting heckled to buy stuff. I guess I am like my parents like that. Whenever they buy cars if they are heckled or passed off they walk away. They also just bought a new car so dad's Altima is mine when I get home which is nice! Yay! I am very happy. But anyways we punched our way into the church. (Hahaha auto correct on iPod too strong!) pushed*.

Inside because it was Sunday they were having a service. I don't know why I thought it would be any different but there were a ton of people looking at the church as well. It was a very beautiful church but I would say less so than Notre Dame. I really liked Notre Dame I decided. This church was more brightly out and also had fewer windows. It was cool because the ceiling was nicely done as well but because the service was going on I didn't get as good of a look at it. We finished looking at the inside of it and decided to go outside and have some water and figure out our next plan. We decided to try and see if there was someplace to leave our bags if we did the dome tour for a fee Euros. There wasn't and with 300 stairs we decided there was no way. We pretty much decided then that we were a bit done with the church and the people so we would go get lunch on our way to the tower of Montparnasse. Cassidy suggested getting it at a restaurant she saw just after the stop on the road on the way up. I said, I would way rather get lunch anywhere but here. We decided we would pop up at the next station that we needed to transfer at and get lunch there. We walked back down the crowded road and now some street guys were doing a thing where they had three things and would mix them up and for like twenty or fifty Euros if you guessed which was the one with the white bottom you could double your money. Easy enough when no one cheats. So people were doing it and losing crap tons of money. I knew someone was cheating but I figured if you were stupid enough to play this game with random street peddlers you didn't know, you deserved to lose a bunch of money. They were making bank off of the stupid tourists. I rolled my eyes and we went into the metro.

Well the next metro stop happened to be stop Pigalle which if anyone knows is in district 9. Which is the red light district. We didn't know that until we got off and saw within the one block radius three sex shops and a building for an erotica show. Oh okay. We decided we were hungry so we walked away from those and towards a restaurant. We went in and it felt really similar to a diner. We both got drinks and food and were very happy. Lunch was a really good turning point for our day because we got to put our bags down and give our backs a rest and because it was only like 1 the place was practically empty and so we were happy. It wasn't sleazy there but Cassidy looked up the area in her Paris guide book it pretty much said yeah don't hang around here too long. It is the sleaziest neighborhood of Paris. But apparently the Moulin Rouge was not too far away. So we decided to see that.

We took the metro down one more stop so we wouldn't have to walk/ carry our bags. It was right there at the stop so we didn't have to feel creeped out walking around that neighborhood. I have never seen the movie Moulin Rouge so I didn't really know anything about it. But I took a picture and Cassidy told me the apartment in the movie was across the street so I took a picture of that too. I don't really know why I was there other than "hey it's a famous thing, let's go." So then after I ran into a souvenir shop next to it to find a gift they didn't have a size for at another one, we left for to the tower. After one subway change and about 20 minutes later we arrived at the tower. We were on our walk towards it when we saw a bank so we jaywalked (which we think is illegal here) to get to it across the street. 

We got money and then crossed the street again (legally this time) to go to the tower. We were a bit worried when we asked the security bag check lady if there was any place to leave our bags. She said no and then I had to ask the scary question of whether we could take them up with us. She said we could. So we bought our tickets and then when we got to her she asked if we would be back down within an hour and we said yeah we would probably be. Then she offered to let us put our bags in a broom closet close to her for the hour because she wasn’t leaving until then. We very graciously accept and then after many thank yous went on our way! We stopped off at the bathroom and then headed up. On the elevator this time they had a little video which said you could also go up three more flights to the top of the building where there was an observation deck. I had done the same tour with Grace last time I had been in France and I hadn’t known about that so I was excited to do that. When we got up we were thirsty so I got a coffee and Cassidy got an Orangina and we sat at the little café and looked out over all of Paris. It was definitely one of my favorite parts of both trips to Paris if not my favorite part each time. I really liked being able to see it all. It was really humbling as Cassidy said. Then we went up to the top floor and took pictures and looked out. The sun was starting to think about setting so it was cool. I’d like to go back and be up there at sunset. I bet it is really cool. I think it really was my favorite part of the trip. It’s so cool to see everything. And I like it better than being on top of the Eiffel Tower because you get to see Paris WITH the Eiffel Tower.

Then after a bit we headed back down and grabbed our stuff before walking over to the Cemetery Montparnasse which we had seen from the tower and Cassidy had looked in her book to see which people she knew that were buried there. She found about four and I didn’t think I knew any of them until she told me that it was Charles Baudelaire who wrote my favorite French poem which I translated on here a few weeks ago about the put the sugar in the coffee and the milk in the coffee and stirring the café au lait etc. I was excited to see that one then. We walked around and saw the ones she wanted to see and then sat for a bit and figured out where we were going to take the metro to get to our train station to go home.
 

We got to the train station pretty fast and we were really happy to have a relatively empty metro train over. When we got there we decided to get hot chocolates so while Cassidy guarded our table I ran in and bought us two hot chocolates and a strawberry cheesecake to share. I think it was a good little goodbye to Paris treat. We sat and talked and killed time and then when we were done, we threw out our plate and then bought some sandwiches for the train ride home. We got on our train with no problems and had an easy train ride home. I spent a lot of time thinking about how soon I am leaving… And what I am coming back to. I’m just worried because I know it will be different from what I have now become used to that it is going to be a rough reverse culture shock. I know I will miss a lot of things about here. And that makes me sad and scares me. But I guess I know I will have support close by to help me get through it. And hot showers. So that is a good thing… But I know it is going to be hard. And not thinking about it isn’t making it any better.

Eventually we got to the TGV station and got on our bus home. I realized I was going to get a lot of trips out of my 2 euro 24 hour pass because I am going to go with Cassidy back to the Airport, and then back in the morning. That will be fun… not. But it is important. When we got back to Aix we talked to Madame for a bit before going to our room so she could sleep. We stayed up until about 12 talking and blogging and heating-padding. I was glad to be up and spending my last bit of time with her. I was hoping to talk to Thad but he wasn’t ever on. So then eventually I went to sleep and Cassidy did the same so that we could wake up in four hours to go catch the bus to the airport.