Our last day in Paris.
Headed off on the tube to Montmartre. We went there on the tour for dinner and a bit of a walking tour, but it was late and raining then so we thought we would have a look during the daylight. We have conquered the tube network, right down to using the auto ticket machines, we roll our eyes at the tourists who can't read the instructions or understand simple french words, ces gens stupides ridicules.
When we came up from the station into the island that divides Boulevard de Rochechouart we landed in the middlle of one of the longest street markets we have seen. We went on a wild shopping spree and spent $4.
The road up the hill that we wanted to follow had more than 3 people on it, so Steven insisted we went through a back alley where there were no people, mainly because there was nothing else either.
At the top we found the spot where all the artists work, well the tourist trade artists anyway. There were rows and rows of them all painting peoples portraits and selling their paintings. We looked at all the art and being discerning art lovers, as we are, didn't buy any.
The roads up here are steep and narrow, they look like pedestrian paths but they are roads, electric cars are very quiet until they blast their horn behind you.
All the streets are very green and mostly cobblestone.
We wound our way back down the hill and into the lower parts of Paris.
We found a graffiti kid, they start them young in Paris.
As we walked along water suddenly came gushing out of the kerb and running in the gutters down the street, a man with a fluoro vest and a broom was busy brushing all of the rubbish into it.
When Napoleon's town planner was redesigning the streets of Paris over 100 years ago he designed in two water systems, one for the drinking water and the other for street cleaning. The street cleaning water comes from the Seine and cleans the street, the rubbish is collected in grates and taken away by a rubbish truck.
We found another amazing old building, Notre-Dame de Lorette, no-where near the Notre Dame. Built in the style of a Roman Basilica in 1823, it's decorations reflect the different types of religions that existed after the French Revolution. The interior is absolutely amazing with many paintings by famous artists, according to our guide book, unfortunately it was being used for a service. So no tourists.
And then, another street market.
We kept walking and came to the Gare du Nord, or Station of the North. It is one of six large railway stations serving the Paris area. Trains from other areas of Europe including England come and go from here. As we've been visiting the great stations of London we thought we had better have a look. The inside is a large space but not quite up to architectural and engineering beauty of the English ones.
The trains looked impressive and fast though. This is the Eurostar, just arrived from London. It is capable of 330 kmph.
Our walk back home took us through the area Steven was uncomfortable with on our first day, we survived. Dropped into an Italian restaurant for pizza and beer, Steven struggles with languages and thanked the waiter in Italian, OK for an Italian restaurant I suppose.
We headed home to pack ready for an early start tomorrow.
We have enjoyed Paris but it's not really the city for us, but then no city is for us really. We do realise how lucky we are to live where we do.
We're not home sick yet but we are looking forwards to the next part of our holiday, catching up with Anna-Maija in Finland tomorrow.
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