PARIS DAY 4

Today is the day to head to the northeast quadrant of the city, to the 18th arr and the 20th arr to see Sacre Coeur and Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise. The area of Montmartre was once the outskirts of town, scene of vineyards and farms, but now a charming, rather hilly area of the city of Paris. There is still a small area with a few vines and - being beautiful Paris - the bistros are often in reclaimed buildings looking much like they always have! Exiting the metro at the Anvers stop we are greeted with sunshiny blue skies, flowers, greenery and crowds of people. One can basically follow the flow of the crowd to the Sacre Coeur Basilica, a Roman Catholic church built on the summit of Montmartre and is therefore at the highest point in all of Paris. Lots of upward climbing steps later we enter the impressive, dark and cool church to walk the interior and light a candle for my father in law who regularly did just that for others in his lifetime. We tried not to be annoyed by the constant photo taking of some of the other tourists but this was difficult given the prominent signage asking that one not take photos in this religious spot. We encountered this bad behavior everywhere, tourists viewing life thru a camera completely oblivious to other patrons and the works of art that they are slowly destroying with their camera flashes. For lunch we stopped at La Cremaillere, which translates to "the rack"(at first I was excited that it was an old dairy or some such thing!) where we had a cocktail and a bowl of soup in the interior courtyard. The courtyard was charming featuring old looking signage, light green arches, hanging baskets of flowers and a large tree that was kept in place by the designer. La Cremaillere gets mixed reviews on the internet so I won't actually endorse eating there and, while the courtyard was pleasant and cool and a nice place to relax after a lot of walking, my favorite way to dine in Paris is at an outside table so I can people watch! Following our respite we metro'ed to the 20th arr and Pere Lachaise, which has it's own metro stop. This ancient cemetery is a fascinating place divided on the map (recommended, buy it upon entry if you plan to look for specific graves) into about 96 irregular areas. On a beautiful day its a pleasure to wander thru the park like atmosphere and wonder about the people who lay in rest there. Some of the graves are very simple, some are monumental. You can peek into small colored glass windows of mausoleums and see old dried flowers and photos placed there long ago. Marvel at the names etched on the stones - I spotted one for Le Duc which is the surname of Aimee, heroine of Cara Black's novels which I've mentioned before in this Paris series. We rambled over to see Jim Morrison and take a photo in our GBDB tee shirts for the band website; Jim's grave is fenced and guarded due to excessive fan behavior. My other 2 must sees: Oscar Wilde and Edith Piaf. After a long day of walking and sightseeing we headed back to the 5th arr and rested a bit in the hotel. For dinner we chose "our" local bistro Petit Pont, located,not surprisingly, on the left bank side of the Petit Pont bridge and Notre Dame Cathedral. At an outside table we had a leisurely meal of steak frites with a dessert of wonderful cheeses. Jake looked quite the Frenchman doing his best Yves Montand, or was it Jean-Paul Belmondo?, imitation. What a wonderful day.