Day 12 - Paris on a Sunday

Day 2 with Breakfast #1. We got our window seat again and worked through the baguettes while sorting out what we'd hit that day.

Here's the dining room again - you can kind of see how they were really into hand-written signs and practically hundreds of kids' drawings on display around the reception desk.

I woke up feeling a little draggy and ate the daily fruit cup that everybody else seemed to leave on their trays, untouched, in an attempt to stave off the whatever it was that tried to take hold of my throat. Everything except for the impossibly pink canned cherry.

We decided to start with another Lee recommend, and walked over to Café de Flore to see where the existentialist crowd hung out, back in the day. It was pretty bustling - probably the Sunday brunch crowd + tourists. We pushed through the busy downstairs, and were led to the second floor.

We were seated near the stairs we'd just come up, between a family and a busing station. Across the way, a man and a lady sat in the corner booth, with their dogs! You can kind of see in this picture how the lady's stowed hers up on the ledge behind her head, like a purse.

I was happy to be sitting next to a window with sunlight, pretty flowers in the window box, and a potent cup of grapefruit juice.

And Breakfast #2!
I got a quiche.

Evan got some fancy, melt-in-your-mouth smoked salmon on toast.

As we walked outside, I took a picture of the café and while I was wrestling with my jacket, Evan noticed a guy with a white ponytail, flanked by two sharply dressed younger dudes walking by. I turned around just in time to see their backs and a few people excitedly taking pictures and jogging after them. We'd just experienced KARL LAGERFELD! From afar. I told Evan it was better than seeing royalty!

After we recovered from the shock (!) we walked over to the Jardin du Luxembourg to look at the fountain, where M'daya said lots of good old fashioned courting used to go on.

Perhaps it was the PG version on this Sunday afternoon - mostly what I noticed were some kids and dads racing little remote controlled boats in the fountain. It was a little wet and windy.

It was time for a treasure hunt. We walked through the area to the west of the park, looking for a Marionnaud (perfume and cosmetics chain) to pick up a bottle of Georges' favorite perfume (nowhere to be seen in the Duty Free) - Christian Dior Eau Fraiche. After checking the map a thousand times, we found one, tightly shut up. It was Sunday, after all. Man, didn't these French people know the world's economy needed to be stimulated?

We turned toward the northeast. Kyle had mentioned there was some shopping to be had in the Marais on God's day off.

Via Les Halles. It seemed pretty desolate, and the trellises kind of reminded me of the tree-like thingies in garden at the Getty.

We stopped to check out Centre Georges Pompidou. It felt like the place we saw in Stockholm - a multi-purpose commons that the people actually used!

It also sort of felt like a busy airport. We sat for a spell upstairs with sandwiches and coffees, and watched people scurrying around on the floor below.

But the outside world was too tempting. Instead of staying in to see the exhibit, we hit the Marais. It was much livelier there. Shops were open, people were strolling along the narrow streets. I dragged Evan into a second-hand clothing store, where we played with the hats and jackets.

They even had version of Pinkberry! Mÿberry, actually. How do you pronounce a y with an umlaut?

Then we walked back to the hotel, to rest a bit before dinner. I think we were crossing the Pont de Sully when I stopped to snap a picture of the curious moss stuff that seemed to be growing all over Europe. You can see some blurry traffic and the Seine in the background.

Before we knew it, it was time to run off and meet M'daya and Co. for dinner! We jumped onto the Metro and willed it to go faster, towards Montmartre.

Two trains and several texts later, we arrived at Au Pied du Sacré Cœur. Our kindly hosts put us out of our misery and translated pretty much the entire menu for us. Clockwise around the table: Evan, M'daya's friend, M'daya's friend's boyfriend, M'daya's sister Elisa, M'daya actually, et moi. And on the table - the remnants of some lovely desserts.

After we had gotten our fill of delicious foods, drink, talked of the dangers of Facebook and closed the restaurant down, M'daya and Elisa braved the cold and risked their health to take us up to Sacré Cœur. Oh man, the heavy breathing after climbing those stairs on over-full stomachs!

M'daya said during the day this super picturesque area is usually clogged with tourists and buskers, and it was kind of nice to hike up the slope, peeking into quaint bars with yellowish lights, unmolested.

Look! The Eiffel Tower again!

The dramatic Basilica behind us, we raced back down the stairs past the funicular tracks, to try and catch the last trains.


C'mon! Hurry!

There was just enough time for a few pictures, then quick goodbyes as M'daya and Elisa took the train back to their dad's to catch some zzz's before they embarked on their own international adventure.