Well, we walked more than 10 miles today, it is no wonder the people in Paris are so thin... Arrived in Montmartre, and walked along Boulevard de Rochechouart towards Boulevard de Clichy (I'm going to tell you right now that there will be no accents on any of the words that require them... I don't know how to do that on an English keyboard). We saw a fight between two men in the 'Porno' district, we think (based on my understanding of French) that it may have been about some grapes that were not seedless. Anyway, the man doing the hitting was slapping the other man (I've never seen a man slap another man before).
Went to Basilique du Sacre-Coeur, heard the choir singing - it was amazing (reminded me of Sister Act with Whoopie Goldberg). Sheila insists to this day that it was NOTHING like Sister Act.
Searched (in some desparation) for a public restroom, they are NOT at all common in Paris.
Okay, this is something that you are going to notice is a theme on this trip. Bathrooms will come up VERY often, and there are many humorous anecdotes.
This particular public restroom (very public actually) cost .41 euros for those of the female persuasion (or men who had to do something other than pee). Men paid .30 euros for the priveledge to have people watch them pee.
Afterwards, we found a fantastic Indian Restaurant on Rue des Trois Freres (it was actually our second choice, but Au Grain Folie was closed). Excellent spice level and flavor. This restaurant also took the award for "Best Credit Card Theatrics by an Indian Restaurant". We made the mistake of drinking over 1 Litre of water (see previous point about lack of restrooms).
From lunch, we walked towards the large departments stores, but in reality, it became a day of frantically searching for public restrooms... I did a LOT of loud talking and 'dancing' around. We determined at this point that the people of Paris do not use restrooms. They drink miniature (thimble sized) cups of coffee, and have NO fiber in their diets.
Visited Printemps (hot washroom) and Galeries Lafayette (nice washroom). We then walked down past the Ritz hotel (what must have the NICEST restroom in all of Paris). Not sure that we were actually supposed to be in the washrooms there, but again... I was desparate.
We then walked through the jardin des Tuileries (again, I was in desparate search of a washroom... NO MORE WATER). Found one in the basement of a cafe, many thanks to the dog that pointed it out to me
Returned to our hotel, then to a Middle Eastern restaurant for Cous-cous. It was very nice. Sheila had her first FULL conversation exclusively in French (even if the child only did have a two word vocabulary - Au Revoir... Bonjour). Tiny restroom.
Made a mental note on the way back to the hotel that much of Paris smells like a fart... probably due to lack of restrooms.
No comments:
Post a Comment