This morning (after haircuts for mom and I) Joan, Mom and I went up to Sacre Coeur to climb to the top of the dome. We seem to be doing a lot of climbing, but it is always worth it! Up another tiny spiral staircase and we arrived at the top. What a view! Not only is it fascinating to see the roof of such an amazing church up close, but the distance we could see over Paris was spectacular! There was a circular area right at the top, so we were able to see in all directions. It was truly breathtaking, and definetly worth doing.
After that we went into the crypt. We've now been to three crypte-type attractions, and they have all been completely different. One had bones, the other had ruins, and this one had a lovely little chapel with some interesting sculptures, and stained glass.
On our way home we wandered through place du Tertre to look at the art, and there were some really lovely pieces. It's so interesting to watch people having their portraits done. It must be hard for the artist to have so many people watching him work. So much pressure!
We had a nice lunch of turkey soup, bread and cheese, and then we set off again, this time to see the Montmartre museum. We didn't make it that far, getting distracted by the coffee store, then a cheese store, before deciding to just do some shopping for tonights meal, and tomorrows. The streets were packed with people picking up last minute things for tonight. There seemed to be seafood stands at every corner, so that must be a French tradition. Erik and Steve are doing their version for us tonight.
I learned two new French words today. Joan and I went into a store to get more batteries for her camera (it started to die at the top of Sacre Coeur!), and not knowing the word for battery off the top of my head, I asked for 'les batries'. So in French they are called 'piles', and 'batries' are actually the batteries that you would put into a digital camera. Interesting. I also think its funny that digital cameras are 'les cameras numerique'. Would never have guessed that!
The other French lesson was at the veggie stand. I walked in and asked for 'les patates sucres' (sweet potatoes). He knew what I was asking for (but they're actually called les patates doux), but potatoes are called 'pommes de terre' in French, and 'patates' on its own means a punch in the face. Oops! We learned that parsnips ('panais' in French) are an English food, the French have only recently started eating them in the past two years. We also saw something called a black radish 'radis noir' which Joan pointed out looked an awful lot like the Japanese vegetable, daikon.
It was a nice evening, and the moms enjoyed another French shopping experience. They have both commented on how friendly everyone has been, and I have to agree. I guess a smile is truly universal.
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