Day 9 Sunday August 10th - Sacré-Couer not Sacre Bleu!

It is a rainy Sunday in Paris. In Europe, most businesses are closed on Sundays (save for boulangeries and other shops that open only for the morning). You have to double-check what is open and what is closed. Our friends Tina and Adrian came by our apartment shortly after 10 am. The wooden floors creak with each step no matter how softly you try to step so we are up early when we hear our neighbour upstairs walking around. One great thing is we can open our large windows to air out the apartment although that brings in the street noise from below. 

We decide to take the M4 train to visit Sacré Couer Basilica of Montmarte located on the top the highest hill in Paris. On a clear day and looking northward a good chance you can see the iconic white church in the distance. It is an overcast day with predictions of isolated rain showers. We arrive just north of the Basilica and walk up from its rear. There are swarms of fellow tourists taking the stairs in front. You can arrive by taxi at the very top and a tram as well. Most of us just walk. There are many hawkers of small Eiffel tower models and wooden model trains made of letters of the alphabet. They have their stuff on a cloth with a rope around it in case the police show they can round it up in a mere second and off they go. Fortunately for Tina and Adrian there are hawkers of umbrellas as well as it quickly starts to rain.  Lana recalls that two years ago, when we stayed at a Marriott Hotel on the Left Bank (5th Arr), our hotel room had a distant view of this popular landmark, but she mistakenly calls it Sacre Bleu--to which Adrian responds "I think that's a swear word Lana!" and we all start laughing.

We do go inside (free) and given it is a Sunday there is a service. It is very large inside and the tourists have a path around the perimeter. There are candles to light (for a donation) and you are not allowed to take pictures. Of course, that doesn't stop a number of tourists. It is shuffle shuffle with the horde and then you eventually are back outside. It is raining fairly heavily. We have our two umbrellas and our friends purchase an umbrella for 5Euro each.
 

 View from near the top looking southward. As you can see it is an overcast day.

On the top step there is a red plastic breast mold which Adrian says is graffiti art so we stop and take a picture. Very interesting.

We walk the streets and Lana does some shopping to pick up a small change purse for Georgia and some more plastic shopping bags (reusable - heavy gauge plastic that Lana bought in Provence last year). Adrian has a coffee shop that is our destination and we find a table under cover with chairs that are not drenched with the rains. Lana and I have a chai latte (avec soya) and we all share a slice of pistachio nectarine tart--delicious!!

More window shopping and checking out some of the places that are open. Group consensus to purchase baguettes, ham, cheese, goodies and a nice bottle of Champagne to have a late picnic down on the Seine River. When we enter the small wine store, Lana sees on the top shelf two of the large Champagne magnums she has been searching for. Regrettably, the clerk is not willing to sell either.   :-(  But she is very helpful with picking out a champagne to drink ensuring we get a cold bottle and even gives us plastic cups to use for our picnic.  

Next we catch the Metro train to Pont Neuf and find a great area on the Seine River for a picnic. We have five small plastic glasses to drink our champagne plus a small knife for the cheese and cutting the large thick piece of ham. Many bateaux filled with tourists are going up and down the Seine. Our picnic is excellent and fun. We even have shade from what appears to be the full sun. It is warming up.

We are very close to the Louvre and the large grounds to its west. Outside the Louvre there are thousands of tourists. There is a long line to enter the iconic glass pyramid entrance. We are looking to find a public toilet. Super windy and in fact so windy that the sandy surface blows into your face. It rains on and off and we do find the public washrooms at .50Euro a person. We are in an amusement park with rides, games and typical amusement food. A torrential downpour ensues and we flee inside the Tulieres Metro station. Enough of the bad weather so we head back to Haut Marais.

Tina and Adrian come back to our apartment and we open a bottle of white wine that Jim's parents had kindly given us the day before. The wine is delicious and around 6:15 pm they leave to head to their Airbnb apartment located a block away and then catch the train back to London. We are meeting Jim and his parents at the soirée for 7:30 pm.

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I had organized our attendance many weeks ago for this Sunday night. Patricia Laplante-Collins is the host for these summer Sunday soirées. I had read an article titled "Dinner Clubs Foreign Cities" and came across Jim Haynes but he was away on vacation and he referred me to Patricia.

The theme of the soirée tonight was: "Embracing The ”Ugly Sexy": Miss "Ugly Sexy "Beauties..." (The "Ugly Sexy" Phenonmenon) 
The two Indian sisters were dancers and entered into this French/India 'beauty' competition. The sisters were only 15 and 17, but were articulate and great dancers. We saw a five minute video of their Bollywood style dancing presented by a documentary filmmaker who came with them. Questions from the group. I think there were about fifteen of us at this soirée not including the sisters, their parents and younger sister. There was a couple from NY who own an apartment in Paris, a younger fellow working in Chicago, two real estate agents from LA, a graphic designer from Sydney, Australia, two guys from Brooklyn, an author etc.

From the picture below you can see it is quite an eclectic mix. There were other attendees that are not in this shot. Some intellectual types, authors and regular people. Jim and I sat beside two younger fellows who grew up in South Brooklyn. Their parents were both from the West Indies and they had been best friends since school. Very interesting and super funny. Great conversations and we thought they should write a book about their dating adventures. The food plate came out finally around 10:30 consisting of pork tenderloin, pasta, gnocchi, lettuce and some scallop potatoes. Lots of wine. Price per person was 25Euro. Patricia herself was disorganized and disappeared into the kitchen for a good part of the evening. The theme wasn't well organized either.

The two dancers--Reena and Teena. Lana with Darlene.

Reena and Teena dancing.

We left around 11:30 pm after great conversation and the very funny two black fellows from South Brooklyn. Caught the M9 train back (30 minutes) to the République station and then short walk to the apartment. Even at 12 Midnight the Metro trains were very busy with people. In bed around 12:15 am.