The Top of Paris from Montemarte

Today (Tuesday, 4/8) we returned to Montemarte which we had visited earlier with our friend Connie, and caught up on loose ends.  The weather was, again, absolutely perfect - sunny, about 65 degrees, and not a cloud in the very blue sky.  Our first stop was just outside the metro - the Wall of Love that we had seen earlier with Connie but was closed.  This time it was open and hopping!  

The Wall of Love is a love-themed wall of 430 square feet in a quiet garden, and was created in 2000 by artists Frédéric Baron and Claire Kito.  It is composed of 612 tiles of enameled lava on which the phrase 'I love you' is featured 311 times in 250 languages. Each tile is about 8 x 12 inches, with "I love you"' in all major languages, but also in rarer ones like Navajo, Innuit, Bambara (?) and Esperanto.  It held the girls' attention for about 90 seconds and then they raced off to an adjacent small but charming playground for 40 minutes or so of craziness. 

After the Wall of Love it was on to the Funicular (the Incline-like transportation up to Montemarte) for the ride up to Sacre Coeur.  Jenny, Dave, and the girls elected to climb the approximately 300 steps while Cheryl and I rode the Funicular for one metro ticket each.  Given the beauty of the day, it was quite crowded around Sacre de Coeur, as expected.  I was glad that we had been their previously as the line to enter and view was long, and also because it helped us know our way around a little bit.  And, as anticipated, the first stop was the (first of many) souvenir shop where gifts for the girls and friends started to accumulate.  That continued throughout the day and, heck, it's a lot of fun buying stuff like that to give away (watch out Larry and Rayann!).

The granddaughters, Ava and Niamh, are interesting little creatures.  If they're not eating every 30 minutes, we hear about it and they were proclaiming they were starving.  The souvenir shop experience could only last so long so we found seats in the sun at a cafe and people watched.  Ava didn't like the menu posted outside (they were out of pizza), but Jenny made a great parenting decision.  Instead of agreeing to walk on, she informed Ava we were going there and we'd find something and make it work.  

That's when the maitre de took over and charmed her right into her seat.  Next thing we know she's speaking French with him and eating froglegs!  Once again I felt myself eating a hamburger and this was, perhaps, the best so far - no Bermuda onion and I had to ask for mustard (or what passed for mustard), but it was cooked perfectly and tasted great.  Several others had burgers, too, while Ava munched on frog legs with ketchup (apparently they taste better that way) and Niamh had a tuna salad. We almost had the girls eating escargot with us - Ava tried it but turned up her nose but there was no way it was going anywhere near Niamh's mouth.  As a general rule, they not only have great appetites but are relatively adventuresome in their tastes.

Following lunch, we set off in search of "Le Pass-Muraille"   (The Walker-Through-Walls), a bronze sculpture of a man seemingly stuck in a wall, based on a character in 1989.  Montemarte is rather hilly in itself and I was starting to catch heat from Cheryl as we trudged up and down a couple of small hills in search of it but, voila, there it was.  It is a really cool sculpture that granddaughter Ava insisted she touch its hand (for good luck).

After that, we trudged back up the hill and ran into Place de Tertre.  It is famous for its vibrant artistic heritage and tradition of artists setting up their easels to paint and draw portraits of visitors, a legacy that dates back to the early 20th. century.  Lunch had already worn off for the girls by this point so Cheryl and I did some more luxuriating in the sun (I could make a habit of this) while Jenny and Dave took the girls to a nearby candy stop for "supplies".

We returned to the top of the steps (and Funicular).  I thought, "Heck, I may not be here again, at least I can walk down the steps to say I did it".  It was a breeze, and we walked down the street toward the metro station (which, again, was at the Wall of Love and the adjacent playground.  So, a stop at the latter was in order to get some of that energy out - it never ends - before boarding the metro and returning back to the apartment.  Jenny et al stayed out for awhile and Cheryl and I went in and had a nice ham and cheese sandwich with dijon mustard (really stout stuff).

Tomorrow (and Thursday), the girls think we're taking them to the "spoon factory", with a surprise attached.  You can imagine their excitement! They deduce that the hotel we're staying in for a couple of nights has a pool and that they'll get to swim.  In reality, we're going to Disney Paris and, thanks to niece and Imagineer Ashley, have two days of complimentary park admission.   We plan on presenting them with Minnie Mouse ears on the train there hoping it doesn't burst their fervor for the spoon factory visit.  I'm guessing they'll get over it.

I'll be back with those of you who are faithful readers, perhaps tomorrow night at Disney or, perhaps, after our two days there.  Haven't yet decided whether to take my laptop with me (but probably will) and will share their delight in seeing the French version of Mickey and Minnie.
Bon soir.