Madame Gerber checked the weather forecast and decided it would be in our best interests to do all of our outdoor sightseeing before the rain hit. We took the Metro to the red light district of Paris to see the Moulin Rouge, but we saw quite a bit more than that. Let's just say that particular section of the city is,um.... a bit seedy. Anyway, I got to take the picture of that famous red windmill, and then it was on to the Montmartre neighborhood.
Montmartre is situated on the only hill in Paris, and Sacre-Coeur church is at the very top. It's quite a climb up all those steps- in fact, the Parisians call them the "breakneck stairs". The church itself is very beautiful. It was made in the Byzantine style, and practically all of the inside surfaces are covered in either stained glass or mosaic. We sadly were not allowed to take pictures, so I can't share the inside of it with you :(
After Sacre-Coeur we walked around the neighborhood. There were lots of Jamaican guys that stand on the steps of the church that you have to dodge by. They have strings that they try to get around your wrist. Then when they "catch you" they braid a bracelet on your wrist and won't let go until you pay them for it. They get pushy and it is pretty annoying. This was a new thing for us to deal with.
The neighborhood is older. It has narrow cobble stone streets. The buildings are charming. A block from the church is Painter's square. Every day artists set up shop and sell the pictures they paint and draw. Some of them are very good. It's a shame that it is hard to pack a painting for the way home. The weather was cold and wet so there weren't as many artists as there usually are. We did some shopping before we met with the rest of the group. We got to watch some type of movie or TV show shoot that was taking place near the carousel that is in the square below the church.
After painters square we were off to the Orsay Museum of Art. This museum contains art predominately from the 19th Century. There is a lot of art from the "impressionist" period. We got to see sculptures from Rodin, paintings from Van Gogh, Renoir, Monet and Manet (to name a few). When we stood in front of Whistler's Mother there was another American there chuckling to himself because the painting reminded him of that silly Mr. Bean movie.
By the time we left we all agreed that this week we had all seen everything there is to see of the nude body form. They all start to look a like once in a while and it is actually more interesting when you see clothing on the forms because it adds color and interest. We weren't allowed to take pictures in all of the areas and many didn't turn out very well because flash isn't allowed at all, but we did our best.
After a long day on our feet we returned to the hotel and changed for dinner. We reserved seats at a lovely local restaurant that Madame Gerber loves to go to every time she visits Paris. It is called La Biche au bois (the doe in the woods). Our group of 28 filled the entire restaurant. The service was wonderful - they were extremely patient with us illiterate, loud Americans who can't read menus and talk too much. We were served a 4 course meal. The food was excellent. We returned to the hotel with more wonderful memories and guess what? we get to sleep until 8 am tomorrow!
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