Another yummy bakery breakfast and coffee before heading off to Monte Marte and the Sacre Coeur. The church itself is just stunning and quite unusual looking with its 3 domes and white stone. Outside the church is an absolute circus. Vendors, street performers, lines to get in. It really affected Becky and she was just about ready to start flipping tables. There were also soldiers armed with assault rifles.
Inside, the church takes your breath away with the many incredible mosaics, stained glass, statues. There’s a solid silver Jesus, a statue of St Peter that looks like Will Farrell, a stained glass dedicated to St Dracula (actually St Vincent, but the likeness is uncanny), a golden Mary. The mosaic over the altar is incredible – it shows everyone coming and bowing before Jesus – soldiers, priests, business people, the rich, the poor, adults, children, people from other countries. It’s powerful.
While we were there, Zane started asking questions about what Heaven would be like. I gave my input, Colin, Graeme, and Becky did the same. It was wonderful, until a church worker came along and shushed us and shook his head in anger. All the while, we could hear the sound of the crowds outside – singing, yelling, selling. It was a strange moment.
We continued on our way through Paris to a restaurant called Bistrot Victoires. It is a French place that has reasonable prices. Obviously popular as we had to wait a while – particularly since there were 6 of us. Made do in the rain before we were seated. It was so cool. We had 2 kinds of steak, duck confit, and chicken. All of it was super tasty. Graeme ordered escargot and everyone had one, even Colin and Zane. Took Zane a while, but once he tried it, he said he liked it apart from the fact that he knew he was eating a snail.
After that, we went past the Stock Market, and a place called Samaritaine which is a big shopping area. We went past the Commercial Court of Paris. Then, because my traveling crew loves me, we went to Cimetière du Montparnasse for a while. It’s not the big Paris cemetery, but I love city cemeteries. There are famous people buried here, but I just loved wandering and seeing the beauty in it all. There was a really cool, low tomb that had a mirror at its top so that you would see the sky reflected when you looked at it. I’m taken by all the graves and sepulchers that are monuments to people and what they’ve achieved, yet beside them are graves that no longer have names that are readable, that no one visits. We will all pass on and we’ll be remembered for a while, but eventually mostly forgotten. It matters what you invest in those around you, those are the things that will last.
Then it was off to a creperie, Coeur de Breizh Creperie, where we had sweet and savory crepes and cider. We headed back to Gard de Nord to get our tickets for the journey to the airport in the morning. Not thrilled about saying goodbye – to the Youngs and to our adventure.
We packed and showered as necessary and tried to get some sleep. It didn’t come easy.
Lamppostings 