Easter Sunday we began our day stopping at a small cafe on our way to Notre Dame. Crossing the glistening Seine River on a gorgeous morning we were very rudely bombarded by a group of kids/teenagers who tried scamming us with a petition. We very quickly picked up on this and kept walking trying to ignore them, unfortunately they picked up on lauras phone.
After dealing with this fiasco we shrugged our shoulders, muttered a few absurdities, and moved on with our day.
Montmartre was our next destination...for those unfamiliar, Montmartre is a neighborhood north of the city center that both Vincent Van Gogh and Salvador Dali called home. It is also the birth place of moulin rouge. Set atop a butte is a cathedral that overlooks the city of Paris. The surrounding streets and buildings are quintessentially Parisian, or what one may imagine to be Parisian. Narrow cobblestone streets, pocket parks, gardens, and a single hillside vineyard create a quaint, comfortable atmosphere one could contemplate calling home... that is, until you get to the bottom of the butte where the Paris "red-light" district exists.
Heading east we were en route for parc Buttes Chaumont and I don't think we could have seen this particular park on a more perfect afternoon. Walking along an allayed, cobblestone street, we enter through a large iron gate into what we guessed to be an old quarry turned park. Wide paths wind up and through the extraordinarily large hills where children and families have flocked in large numbers. Apparently it is the destination for Easter. Playgrounds and bridges, lookout towers and lakes, Easter egg hunts and soccer games, it's all happening at parc Chaumont.
Monday, most stores and restaurants are still closed from the holiday, but we were able to find a small bakery open this morning as we made our way to the train station destined for Chartres.
Chartres (both the town and the Gothic cathedral) was stunning, as expected. We walked silently through the sanctuary and had a low lit tour of the crypt, where we got to look down into the well that was the original reason that a church was established there. It was interesting to stand in the cathedral in a place where people have stood agape (or fearful) for the last 800 years.
All in all Paris was an adventure. From lost phones to found strength and everything in between, this was an extraordinary experience.
Following photos are from Montmartre, Butte Chaumont, Chartres and of course the Eiffel tower...
See you in Amsterdam!
An amazing 4 days! Thanks for sharing with us!
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