Sacré Coeur, au coucher du soleil

Today was quite the touristy day!

We woke up around 9, had a bite of breakfast, and set out for Notre Dame.  It was a quick 10 minute walk from my apartment, and although I’ve seen the outside and taken many pictures, I hadn’t been inside until this morning.  It was really beautiful, and I love the candles and candle racks they have.  As beautiful as it was, I still think I prefer Sacré Coeur; the blue and gold leafing on the ceiling in Sacré Coeur is breathtaking, and I wish they allowed pictures inside the basilica.

After seeing Notre Dame, we began our walk to the Louvre.  Can you believe that I’ve been here for almost two months, and did not set foot in the Louvre until this morning?  I can’t, and to be honest, it’s a bit disgraceful.  Anyways, so we split a couple of baguettes and ate them by the pyramid before going inside.  We managed to get in for free with our student IDs and visas, which was a plus.  We walked around and saw most of the big-ticket items, such as the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and Winged Victory.  I also attempted to re-enact my last experience at the Louvre, where I fell asleep in the room of Roman statues and got yelled at by a crazy security guard (embarrassing, I know).  It was great, and I can’t wait to spend some more time there as the semester goes on.

After the Louvre, we went to Montmartre.  We emerged from the subway right in front of the Moulin Rouge!  It was actually my first time seeing it, so we took some pics of it and then decided to swing by our restaurant of choice to make reservations.  After doing this, we stopped in a wine store, picked up a nice bottle of red and some plastic cups, and then made our way to Sacré Coeur.  We saw the church, checked out the nearby Place du Tertre, which is a little square with a bunch of artists painting.  As the sun began to set, we made our way back to the steps of Sacré Coeur to open our bottle of wine.

I can honestly say that it was one of the most amazing experiences I have had in Paris thus far.  So many people were sitting on the steps with their friends, sharing the beautiful view and wine or beer.  There were performers and live music, and the city was beginning to twinkle in the background…I should just stop, because words can’t even really do the whole thing justice.

After the sun set, we went to Refuge des Fondues!  I have been hearing all about this place since before I even arrived in Paris because it serves wine in baby bottles…crazy right?  I thought it would be really cool and fun, but to be perfectly honest, it really creeped me out.  The bottle smelled so rubbery, and just…yikes.  I am now firmly of the opinion that wine should be served in glasses, or in its original bottle (but only on New Year’s Eve).  The actual restaurant itself was really fun, though.  There are two long tables on either side of the little place, and to get to the wall side seating, the waiter has to help you climb over the table.  After you sit down, they bring little appetizers to nibble on.  It’s at about that point where you start to look around the place at the hundreds of signatures on the wall.  We actually ended up finding another BC signature from 2008 on the other side.  We added our own signature (reading: Eagles on the warpath, ooh (la la) ah!) on the wall right behind Kelly and I, so we felt preeetty cool.  The fondue itself was great, too…I can’t believe how much cheese we ingested between the four of us.  Kelly and I totally outdid Alissa and Nadia in terms of bread though…three baskets to their two and a quarter.

We kind of waddled back home, grabbing a jar of Nutella along the way (I hate them for doing this to me) and realized we were too tired to go out again.  Instead, we grabbed some spoons and dug in…the jar was empty the next day.