Butte et Bateaux (Seventh Sunday in Paris)

Sunday, October 21. Janet and Debbie go to Sainte-Chappelle and the Memorial a la Deportation this morning and meet me at my apartment.

Mussels and Mosaics on Montmartre. We take the metro to Abbesses which is about halfway up La Butte Montmartre, walk down the r. Yvonne Le Tac and then take the funicular up the hill (actually, Janet decides to walk up the steps but Debbie and I vote for the easy way!). We then weave our way through the masses of people sitting on the white steps leading to the Basilica. This church is a relative newcomer compared to other Parisian monuments. Built between 1876 and 1914, it is a neo-Romanesque -Byzantine basilica, and it's hard to imagine the skyline of Paris without it. (There apparently was a Benedictine Monastery on this hill until it was burned down during the French Revolution. And, of course, it's the site where St Denis was beheaded. According to legend, he then picked up his head and carried it several miles to the spot where the Cathedral of St Denis stands today on the north side of Paris!) Inside, there are lovely mosaics, including one for each of the cities and regions of France.

Interesting factoid: The Basicilica is made of travertine, a type of stone that leeches calcite, so any accumulated soot and weathering gradually erode and wash away in the rain. The exterior remains white and never needs to be cleaned.

After we leave the church, we have lunch (moules et frites) at a cafe on the Place du Tertre. I eat my mussels like a true gourmand, broth flying everywhere (I definitely needed a bib!). I use both of the handi-wipes that are provided and then go to the restroom to wash my hands! Janet and Debbie are pretending they don't know me. :) We wander around the Butte, checking out the vineyard, the tiny streets and lovely houses. According to Debbie's guidebook, about 1000 bottles of wine (Le Clos Montmartre) are produced each year and sold to benefit local charities.

Metro from Place Pigalle to Cite. Everyone back to respective rest stations (apartment, hotel) to get ready for the evening festivities.

Bateaux Parisiens. An evening cruise on the Seine complete with dinner. Getting there turns out to be quite an adventure, however. We have the name of the port and the pier number but neither appear to be near any metro station. We try to arrange through the hotel for a taxi but apparently in Paris one can call for a taxi but it doesn't mean you're actually going to get one. If there isn't one in the area that's available, you're out of luck. So we walk to Sevres-Babylone and take the metro to Bir-Hakeim in the 15th and then walk back past the Eiffel Tower to the Port de la Bourdonnais. Then it takes some time and additional walking to find Pier 7. A little anxiety-producing, and all of us are relieved to finally get on board.

Debbie had arranged for this dinner cruise and, I must say, the boat is far more elegant that anything I could have imagined. We are at a table next to the enormous, crystal-clear glass windows that curve at the top to join the glass ceiling. It is like being under the stars. There's music, entertainment and dancing on board. Quite an experience. A three-course dinner complete with aperitifs and 2 bottles of wine. The view of the monuments from the river is extraordinary and because it is evening they are all illuminated: Eiffel Tower, Pont Alexandre III, L'Assemble Nationale, Le Musee d'Orsay, L'institut de France, Notre Dame. At the end of the cruise, the boat makes a complete turn in the river in front of the small replica of the Statue of Liberty. There's a photographer on board who takes our pictures (and everyone else's!). The one of Janet is fabulous so we make her buy it! The one of the three of us is cute too so Debbie takes it and will copy it for us. It is a lovely evening.

We decide to walk back to Hotel Pas de Calais (we're on the western side of the 7th so this entails walking clear over to the eastern edge of the 7th), under the Tour Eiffel, along the Champ de Mars to Avenue Bouvard which turns into the r. Saint Dominique. This is a very very very long street. It crosses the Esplanade des Invalides and a big section of it is deserted because both sides of the street are lined with government buildings. We pass the Polish Embassy. Dominique ends at the Blvd St Germain and when we're a couple of blocks from r. des Saints Peres, I decide I'm not going to walk the rest of the way back to my apt and hail a cab! Such extravagance. The cab turns out to be driven by an older woman (60ish - oops, that's almost my age!) from the Pays Basque. I find this out because she speaks French fluently but has a pronounced accent so I ask her where she's from originally. Thus, she has a "southern accent."

It's after midnight and I fall into bed. The weather was beautiful and sunny today.