Nothing’s Sacred…

Dan

Not one to go anywhere under-prepared, I spent some time this morning reading up on the history of Montmartre and studying the Metro Map, working out the best route to get us there. I was able to reel off some amazing facts to excite the troops before I led them into the Bastille Metro tunnels to board the #8 to Madeline and the #12 to Abbesses. However, when confronted with train station closures across the city and everyone on our train being turfed out at Richelieu Drouot, I had to go back to the drawing board (or rather the CityMapper App) to get my bearings and lead the family by foot up the hill.

The walk into Montmartre delivered more than a train ride ever could (and a data bill in excess of $100 according to my text message from Telstra ). We excitedly explored the smaller streets and walked past less known village shops.  The chocolate museum and the Lindt store delivered free Easter treats and the giant Lindt bunny in the front window was lucky enough to score Stella’s inordinate affection.

We entered the over-crowded, tourist-ridden Sacre Coeur via many sets of stairs that Stella ran up effortlessly  (NB her legs were “rusty” yesterday when we were at the Louvre and I wasn’t sure she would even survive the first flight!) We sat and ate our morning tea baguettes in front of the church, overlooking the magnificent Parisian cityscape that stretched before us.  Once the eating and frisbee capers were out of the way, we went exploring. Daisy was so excited to be amongst artists doing what she loves to do that she told me she felt ‘giddy’ with excitement. It was wonderful to hear her speak to the locals and tell them that she was an artist too!

Unfortunately our girls were also exposed to the “underbelly” of the tourism business, witnessing scammers fleecing tourists of their cash.  We saw the “string men” and the “cup scam”, and then spent a long time talking to the girls about what we had seen and the impact that those actions had on the people involved.  Stella was so upset at seeing the reaction of a lady who lost 100 Euros in the cup scam that she said she would go and tell the lady that it was a scam and tell others too so that they don’t get caught. I must say the whole experience sent me back to LA, 2006, where I was caught out by scammers with a double or nothing number game that was “too good to lose”.

Tomorrow we are hoping that the protesters will disburse and we can see the famous sights of the Champs Elysee without station closures or other misadventures.

Stella

OMG today was so awesome 😎 We caught a train 🚆to…

Sorry 😐 emergency 🚨 joke alert…What do you call a pig 🐷 with no legs🦵? A pork slider – he he 🥴

Ok we caught a train to part of the place we wanted to go, but when we tried to catch the next one the station was cut off. So annoyingly we had to walk the rest of the way. But when we got there it was so beautiful 😍 There was so much art 🖼 People could get the shape of their head cut out on a piece of paper 📝 and you could buy art and lots more. I enjoyed today 💩

Daisy

Today was really fun. We all got on the train  but unfortunately the train station was closed for the day, but that was only a few lines. We had to walk the rest of the way.🏼‍♀️It was a long walk. When we finally got to this mysterious place there were loads of artists drawing portraits. Wow it was amazing. The experience gave me giddy feelings in my tummy.

Jac

Today we were patisserie abstinent and survived! It was a day of climbing as we ventured into Montmartre and the Sacre Coeur, which gave us an amazing view of Paris. It was great wandering through the cobbled streets of Montmartre and seeing the Moulin Rouge. The girls also captured another frisbee moment outside the Sacre Coeur.

The girls have witnessed and been quickly educated about the Dark Humans of Paris, with the cup scam today and yesterday on the way to the Louvre we saw a man chasing a pickpocket. The guy was so quick on his feet there was no way he was going to get caught. As you do, I fantasised that if he had run past us, I would have stuck out my foot, tripped him over, he’d be pinned down, the gendarmerie would arrest him, and I would have single handedly saved the day! What most likely would have happened is that he would have taken my leg with him and I would have spent the rest of the trip writing blogs from a hospital bed!

However, we also saw the best side of human nature today, when a lovely Paris Metro train driver created a wonderful memory for Stella. While we were waiting for our train, Stella waved to the train driver as he approached the underground station. He saw her and beeped the horn, not just a beep, but to the tune of: de-de de de de -de de!

Purchased my first piece of Paris fashion today and, as always, a little something for the kitchen .