In the morning, we went shopping in the area around the apartment. We found some nice linen dresses, skirts and tops. We also found some nice knits and Florine found some dresses. We walked around looking at clothes and shoes. We were supposed to go to Montmartre in the afternoon, but we spent so much time shopping that it was almost evening by the time we dropped our purchases at the apartment before heading out. We also picked up a raspberry charlotte to take with us to Fabienne's. Fabienne is a friend of Florine's from her time in California, and now lives in Montmartre.
We finally got to Montmartre around 6:00 pm. We took the subway and walked to Fabienne's apartment from there. When we came out of the subway, it almost felt like we were in an African country with the people and the stores around the area. We had to walk uphill for quite a while and when we got to the generally vicinity of Fabienne's building we were about to call her when she and Sebastian, her husband caught up with us outside on the street. They were just returning from an afternoon movie. She
took us up to apartment just below the Sacre Coeur church while Sebastian went to pick up their 7 or 8 year
old daughter from school. Fabienne was on
phone for a while dealing with a client. We were out on the balcony, admiring the view, and listening to some musicians playing out on the hillside. Florine and Fabienne had lots to catch up on once she was off the phone. We finally got to meet the daughter when Sebastian came back with her. We got a tour of the apartment and had some thing to drink and shared the raspberry charlotte. Fabienne told us about her job which entails welcoming tourists renting apartments from the company she works for. She really enjoys it but keeps irregular hours as people renting the apartments can come and go at any time and she had to be there to hand out or take back the keys and/or payments. She is also their point of contact for any issues they faced at the vacation rentals. We had a lovely visit but it was getting late and time to head out.
We decided to walk up to the church and Fabienne said she would come with us. She took us up the road before detouring back to the steps as she said the road was not as steep as the stairs. It's a bit of a hike up the hill to the church but the view was great once we got up there.
There were still quite a lot of tourists around the church. There was a man on a small column that was part of a fence playing with a soccer ball. He had pretty good control of the ball while doing all kinds of moves. He earned a nice round of applause when his exhibition was over and he passed his hat around for donations.
We could see Paris laid out below us from the church. Fabienne then took us to a corner of the church grounds where we could get a good view of the Eiffel Tower. We walked around the back of the church to the real touristy area. Fabienne walked with us along some of the quieter streets and then had to head home. We said our good byes and she head off for home while we continued our walk towards Pigalle. At least this time, the walk was downhill.
It was a beautiful night and the tourists were out in full force in Pigalle. We walked to the Moulin Rouge and watched as teenagers stood over grates so the draft coming up from the underground could blow their clothing up. It was not that effective as most of them did not have skirts on. But it was fun watching them having fun and shrieking with laughter.
We finally made our way to the subway to return to our apartment. We had a great dinner of all the different little meat pies, cheese and fruit that we had picked up earlier in the day. That was a long day with lots of walking and it was pretty late by the time we were done with dinner. We were ready for our beauty sleep.
We decided to walk up to the church and Fabienne said she would come with us. She took us up the road before detouring back to the steps as she said the road was not as steep as the stairs. It's a bit of a hike up the hill to the church but the view was great once we got up there.
There were still quite a lot of tourists around the church. There was a man on a small column that was part of a fence playing with a soccer ball. He had pretty good control of the ball while doing all kinds of moves. He earned a nice round of applause when his exhibition was over and he passed his hat around for donations.
We could see Paris laid out below us from the church. Fabienne then took us to a corner of the church grounds where we could get a good view of the Eiffel Tower. We walked around the back of the church to the real touristy area. Fabienne walked with us along some of the quieter streets and then had to head home. We said our good byes and she head off for home while we continued our walk towards Pigalle. At least this time, the walk was downhill.
It was a beautiful night and the tourists were out in full force in Pigalle. We walked to the Moulin Rouge and watched as teenagers stood over grates so the draft coming up from the underground could blow their clothing up. It was not that effective as most of them did not have skirts on. But it was fun watching them having fun and shrieking with laughter.
We finally made our way to the subway to return to our apartment. We had a great dinner of all the different little meat pies, cheese and fruit that we had picked up earlier in the day. That was a long day with lots of walking and it was pretty late by the time we were done with dinner. We were ready for our beauty sleep.
Where we stayed: Marais Saintonge
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