After a breakfast of Corn Flakes (yes, really) and cafe au lait, my host mother made a delicious couscous, and two of her daughters and one grandson joined us for lunch. Meals are much more leisurely and tend to take place later here. We didn't sit down at the table until nearly 2pm, and I finally excused myself after tea and dessert at around 3:15. The clear blue skies were too beautiful to waste, so I met up with some friends for a trip to Montmartre.
Montmartre is a neighborhood set on a hill in the 18th arrondissement. It is famous for its artistic inhabitants (Monet, Picasso, Van Gogh, and many others lived or worked in the area at some point) and for the Basilica of the Sacre Coeur that is located at the highest point.
To get to Sacre Coeur, you have to climb. A lot.
We discovered the Parisian equivalent of the Exorcist steps in Georgetown. You can see them in the background here. They weren't quite as steep, but there were a lot more of them!
But once we made it to the top, it was well worth the trek! There is a square full of street artists drawing portraits and selling watercolors and oil paintings, a fitting throwback to the area's artistic history. Also, you can see the entire city from the steps of Sacre Coeur (above). This turned out to be the perfect destination for my first full day in Paris.
Since it was Sunday, there was a mass being held inside of Sacre Coeur. We listened to the sermon, took a look around, and went back outside...where we discovered a musician performing "I Will Survive" on the steps in front of a crowd of tourists! It was such an incongruous picture (see Sacre Coeur, right, and imagine disco music in the background) that we all had to laugh before singing along with the chorus. ;-)
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