Day 4 (wow, is it only day 4?)

As I write this, all of our pictures thusfar are being uploaded onto a photobucket album. very. very. veerryy slowly. While the pictures do jazz up the blogs, it takes way too long to upload them and it's hard to choose just one or two, so now everyone can see them all!

Today we started our "Paris a la carte" tour on the Open bus, which we took up into Montmartre. We didn't get to see any of Montmartre on our shorter trip three years ago, so it was exciting to get to see it and explore, pick out places from "Amelie," etc. We loved the neighborhood. While the main street may have been flooded with assorted sex shops, up on the hill the little streets seem very village like, residential areas with pubs, artists, restaurants. We hiked all the way up the hill and toured the Sacre Coeur, which was beautiful of course. The carousel and little grassy park out front were definitely in "Amelie" and the view from there was great. Then we sort of sought out, sort of stumbled upon the Salvador Dali museum (actually referred to as a "space"). It was a cool, dark, basement kind of place that had hundreds of drawings, photos, and a few sculptures, mostly lesser known pieces, mostly from later years, 1960's and on. We learned a lot, and it's great to see his work from all different media. There was a fun photo booth by the exit. We have Kyle as a melting clock and me with Dali's moustache. As soon as I get to a scanner, you'll see them!

We got lunch in one of the little touristy squares with all the street artists, and headed down the hill to find the Moulin Rouge. I have to say though, I was a little disappointed by the exterior, and I blame Baz Luhrmann entirely. No real building could have lived up to the grandeur of his film. But, the Moulin Rouge is 120 years old this year! That's pretty wild. We got to see into the lobby, but unfortunately not into the main room, but the pictures look amazing. We're not going to a show there this time, because no, I don't have 100 euro (without dinner!) just laying around for that purpose. Next time though. It was fun to see, and the gift shop was nice. Took the open bus back around the circle to the Republique, walked back to the apartment, then we went off on one of our Paris city walks cards. (50 cards that plot out little scenic walks through different parts of town - thanks Mom and Dad) Saw Les Halles, Hotel de Ville, Eglise St Eustache, a few streets full of cafes. Really, I know there are a ton of people in this city, and probably even more tourists, but with sooo many restuarants, bars, and cafes, seemingly an infinite amount, how do they all stay busy?

Meanwhile, since we had a big lunch, we just picked up some food to go from the Monop' (it's getting to be my favorite shop) and had a light dinner back here at the apartment. Tomorrow, Versailles provided all goes well. I'm so excited, the interior was closed last time we visited.

A bientot,

Steph

- Kyle's added comments

I highly suggest to everyone that gets a chance to look up pictures of the inside of Sacre Couer since we weren't able to take pictures of the inside ourselves. The interior is definitely worth looking at, since the inside of that place is awesome.

We also have a little video of a crowd of people sitting on the steps in front of Sacre Couer with two guys singing Hey Jude (the second time we were hearing it live) with a single amp, guitar, and microphone. Once we figure out a quicker way of posting our videos from Steph's camera, we'll get it to you.