October 29th - Last Tango in Paris

Our last day was a chillin kind of day. We slept a little late (because we have to get up at 6am tomorrow to get ready for the airport) and then headed to Montmarte - the beatnik capital of Paris. This area of Paris is on a butte and was technically outside the city limits of Paris for much of the time so it has attracted all sorts for its cheap rent, low taxes, and cabaret nightlife. Monks lived here in the 1200's and then were replaced by farmers and windmills (moulins) in the 1600's. It was the home to underground gypsum mines (the white component in plaster of paris) in the 1700's, Parisian liberals in the 1800's and Modernist painters such as Renoir, Picasso, Vincent van Gohn, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

We got off the Metro and found ourselves in what seemed like a street that is a permanent flea market - shop after shop of fabric and cheap clothes in boxes that you have to rifle through. Also lots of con men playing the shell game. At the top of the hill we even found con men doing something I had read about in our Rick Steves guide: they grab your wrist and start to tie a yarn friendship bracelet on it. You can't get it off and they expect you to pay them for your work of art. They didn't hit us but we saw them hit some other girl.

The most obvious site in Montmarte is the Sacre Coeur Basilica. From up here at 420 ft you get a really nice view of Paris as well. Our camera was running out of battery again so we don't have a ton of pictures. This basilica was built in the wake of the Prussian seige of Paris which took place over four months in 1870. The French had literally had to eat dogs, cats, and rats and were thoroughly humiliated. Also in 1871 there was a group of Parisians, the Communards, who held out in Montmarte in protest when the French government capitulated to the Germans and the French government shot them.

The French Catholics thought they were being punished for the liberal sins of their country (sounds like some of the rhetoric-filled e-mail I still get from my former neighbor!) and raised money to build this basilica. It took 44 years to build (1875-1919) and stands on 83 pillars that are sunk 130 feet deep in the ground (to anchor it lower than the honeycomb of gypsum mines beneath it).

After touring the church, we walked all around the neighborhood seeing various sites suggested in the Rick Steves guidebook.





This is the infamous Moulin Rouge cabaret - the home of the cancan (actually Le Quadrille but named cancan by a brit). There are still nightly shows







Final stop today was the Museum of Erotic Art on the boulevard de Clichy (a raunchy area known as Pig Alley) where sex shops and peep shows abound. I was underwhelmed by the museum - basically a warehouse of weird sexual statuary from Africa and India. One floor had an installation of artwork made from models of skeletons. I did enjoy the floor that had the history of the Paris brothel with pictures and descriptions of the brothels.




After the museum we returned to the Champs-Elysees. Along the Champs, there these stores I don't really know how to describe - they are car stores that have the history of that line of cars and show either classic cars or program cars - Mercedes has one, Toyota has one, and today we wandered into Renault because it has free WiFi and a restaurant/bar.





We used Yelp to find a close place for dinner and checked up on e-mail. The weird thing about WiFi in Europe is that it may be free but you have to register for it. So, at Renault, you have to check into the front desk, give them your name and where you are from andthey give you a code that will allow one hour of free access.






The place we went to dinner was just around the corner and was quite unique. It got great reviews on Yelp and we were warned that it gets very busy. We arrived at 1915 - early by French standards and were seated right away. We knew from our research on Yelp that it is a steakhouse and all the waitresses want to know when you walk in is how you want your steak and what wine you want. All the servers are women who are in the same outfit - a one piece black deal with a short skirt and a little white collar - almost like a french maid without the apron. They are no muss, no fuss. They bring a salad and bread and the wine you ordered. When you are done with that, they bring out entrecote (literally "between the ribs" which I think is a sirloin cut) that is cut into strips and really good French Fries. There is a sauce that they spoon over the top and it is really quite good. When you have cleaned your plate, they bring out another serving and place it directly on your plate. They offer you dessert but we were way too full for that after all that food. It was flaming hot in that place - I think it's the first time I was actually too warm! When we left, the line was out the door and into the middle of the street. What a way to end our Paris adventure!