Our Last Week in the 18th

 It's finally gotten warm in Paris, so I'm a much happy camper. This is also our last week in our AirBnB in the 18th arrondissement, so we checked our list of things to do and see and made sure we visited whatever was left to do and see north of the Seine. Sunday the 30th we're off to the other side of the river (and the city) to the 13th Arrondissement. This is our last full month in Paris before the Games and before we embark on our tour around France. But we've got 2 more weeks in July in a new AirBnB plus a couple of days with Countryman family friends in the 7th arrondissement. 

One of the things I've liked best to do in Paris is to go to concerts and exhibits that are off the beaten path. Friday evening we went to an outdoor concert of the Chamber Orchestra of Paris at L'Hotel de Ville. Although not off the beaten path, we only heard about this from someone Chris has befriended here in Paris. This was part of a city-wide Fête de Musique with all kinds of music at venues all over the city. 

The orchestra played a number of selections from various operas, especially some that were sure to be crowd-pleasers. When they played the William Tell Overture, it was amazing to watch the crowd settle down - even those walking through the venue with no intention to watch the concert! Thoroughly enjoyable and fun to be part of the Parisian crowd.

Saturday we ventured out to Les Halles, the huge underground shopping mall, to go to the movies. We needed something low key, so we saw Inside Out 2 (in French Vice Versa 2). We weren't sure what going to the movies in France would be like but quickly learned that you could select either in French with English subtitles or in English with French subtitles. We chose the latter. It was a huge theatre; it reminded us of going to the movies as kids. 

After a quiet weekend, we celebrated our 29th wedding anniversary (Joyeux anniversaire de mariage!). We also started to check off the things we wanted to get to in this area of the city before moving. So we went to a smaller park that I had seen suggested: Parc Monceau in the 8th arrodissement. It was lovely. Paris is full of small and large parks that Parisians make excellent use of. There are usually statues and architecture, but always places to play: children's playgrounds, tennis courts, badminton nets, soccer fields - although one usually has to dodge kids playing soccer in the main walkways in many parks.

From the park, we made our way by bus (and walking - always walking) to a restaurant suggested to us by one of Chris's friends. I am thoroughly intimidated about selecting a restaurant in Paris just because there are so many of them. Better to get a recommendation or just walk around and check out the menus. But we both enjoyed our meals and were very happy with the restaurant.

Tuesday and Wednesday we went to museums in Montmartre. But before I talk about them, I have to say something about navigating Montmartre. I am so proud of myself that I have been able to climb up to Montmartre so many times. We've been navigating with GoogleMaps, of course. Here's one place GoogleMaps took us:

We did not go this way. We learned that we could stay on the street we were on that took us gradually higher and get to a point where the stairway was less steep. I was able to do this even on days when my breathing was especially troublesome.

OK; that being said: The Musée de Montmartre tells the history of Montmartre, starting with the abbey that overlooked vineyards and mills. The area became a center for revolutionary and artistic and intellectual activity, with the café Le Chat Noir featured prominently as a gathering place. The building of Sacré Coeur was considered by some to be an insult to the Revolution. 

On Wednesday, we went to the Espace Dali, which I was surprised to really enjoy. I especially enjoyed his illustrations of Alice in Wonderland, I forgot to get a picture, but if you look beyond the elephant in the picture below, you can see a figure of a woman with her hands raised. That's a sculpture that provided the basis for Alice. It was helpful to have some explanation of ideas behind Dali's surrealism. I came away with new respect for Dali as an artist, an intellectual, and a spiritual seeker.

When I next post, we'll be in a new area of Paris in a different AirBnb. It will be considerably smaller than this one, but it will only be for 2 weeks. I'm excited about experiencing a different area of Paris.