Montmartre and Champs Elysees

Post for 10/16

Thursday morning we had another great guide, Ramelie, from Paris Walks to do our Montmartre walking tour. She was very good. Not much interest in the Place du Tertre in our group of 4, so we took the funicular down the hill and found a spot to eat near Mo Abesses. Sharon accidentally left all of her "paperwork" at the hotel that morning so we could not find our recommended restaurant, but we did find a place with great salads. They served very thin fresh garlic potato chips on top of all the salads.

After lunch, Steve and Bonnie went back to hotel to take a nap and do laundry; and Sharon and I shopped our way to the Mo Anvers and took the metro to the Pompidou Center since we did not get to go there the day before. The metro that we took was line 2 above ground line so that was fun. It was 4:00 pm when we got to the Pompidou, so the first thing we did was go up to the top and have a drink at Georges. This is the same restaurant from the film, The Hundred Foot Journey. Great views and most enjoyable! After that, we looked at the art until a little after 6:00; then started our 3 line journey back to the hotel.

Supper that night was just down the street at the Constant Cafe. Christian Constant is a celebrity chef and has 3 restaurants in this neighborhood, all in a row. The Michelin starred one was 95 euros per person just for the food, so we did not choose that one. The cafe was great! Exceptional food and soup presentation just like Les Papilles. There has been a line out the door almost every night so we were really happy we were able to get in.

This is where we eat last night.

Our tour guide, Ramelie. We just got off the metro at Montmartre.

An art installation referred to as the "I love you" wall where it is all in different languages.

One of the few remaining art nouveau entrances. The purpose was to make an entrance to the underground to not look so uninviting. They didn't know how well the Parisians would take going underground.

This is a relative newer church. The construction is cheaper because of the area where it was being built.

One of the many restaurants.

Trying to give a feel for the streets both in width and slope in this area.

In the background is one of the buildings used in the filming of the movie Amelie.

A number of gated homes.

Behind the gate.

This was not just a Montmartre style of parking but of Paris in general.

According to Christian tradition, Saint Denis (below) is a Christian martyr and saint. In the third century, he was Bishop of Paris. He was martyred in connection with the Decian persecution of Christians, shortly after 250 AD. Denis is said to have picked his head up after being decapitated, walked ten kilometers, while preaching a sermon of repentance the entire way. Saint Denis can also be found on the facade of Notre Dame.

The way the story goes is this is place where the term tipsy comes from. According to the story, the glasses didn't have flat bottoms and you had to hold the glass or it would "tip". If you had too much to drink and you couldn't keep the glass up-right, you were "tipsy".

We had lunch at the Le Relais Gascon Cafe where their specialty was salads.

Yes, there was salad under there. The top was french fried potato chips. It was an interesting combination. It was good but very filling.

Looking back up to the top.

This is where Steve and Bonnie went back to the hotel and Sharon and I went to the Pompidou. We stopped at one of the stations just to take pictures of the art.