Good ol' Paris

As was decided yesterday, today the plan was to get up early and beat the queues at Notre-Dame. I was successful in getting up early and beating the queues but you can just imagine my dismay when I pulled out my camera to snap my first picture and found out I had left my memory card in my laptop back at my hotel... I'll admit that I silently cursed on the inside but those who know me well know that I'm a pretty organised person (Kim will vouch for that), so organised in fact that I had a spare memory card in my camera bag, the very camera bag I was going to leave behind in my hotel room today. Oh the joy when I remembered the spare card, talk about meant to be!

I always loved Disney's version of 'The Hunchback of Notre-Dame' (it's in my top three with 'Beauty and the Beast' and 'The Little Mermaid') and remember getting it for my 9th birthday (I know this because that year I also got my ears pierced) so have always thought it'd be a cool spot to visit. I've been lucky enough to have visited a few cathedrals in Europe and what I'll take away from Notre-Dame is the darkness (very dim inside), the beautiful stained glass work and the gargoyles. I never got to the top but took a bit of time looking up at the gargoyles and admiring them from a distance.

Notre-Dame - celebrating 850 years!

Moi!

From the inside

Since it's Easter and all...

Nice!

If you look closely you can see some gargoyles. Oh, and check out that blue sky!

Next on my list of places to visit was Montmarte and the Sacred Heart Basilica. I enjoyed perusing the streets around Montmarte and liked the view from on top of the hill but the crowds of people put me off staying there for too long. It was also the first time that one of the street sellers actually grabbed my hand and with force I had to pull away...

Pretty white marble

Waiting in line is always nicer when there is someone playing the violin

You'll laugh when you read about what I did next. I went back to where I'd just came from, that's right, all the way back to Notre-Dame on the other side of Paris. Why? Well, because I have an unlimited metro pass remember! Ha ha no, it was because I'd had a place recommended to eat there by Emmanuel, dad's boss (I only realised it was by Notre-Dame when I was already at Montmarte...). So I got all the way back there to find this;

#29 was closed!

That it's closed on Monday and Tuesdays! Ah well I wasn't too disheartened because this whole street was full of amazing places to eat and I got myself a very srummy crepe with caramel and pistachio ice-cream in it, MIAM MIAM!!!

Ice-cream goodness in a crepe!

Another reason I was happy to be in this part of the city was because I had the most amazing chocolate eclair from there yesterday. I managed to find my way back to the same spot again and the eclair was even better than the one I had yesterday. It's lucky I'm not staying here long term because they'd definitely be something I'd be eating all the time!

Found it!

Oh yea!

That's what's in the middle dad. Can you try make me one? Please! You've got until Jan 2014 to perfect it ;)

I also saw a roller-blading mime today so thought I'd include a picture of that. Only in Paris aye?

A modern take on the ol' mime

While I was sitting in a one of the parks by Notre-Dame savouring my eclair I pulled out my Lonely Planet travel guide and saw one of their top not to be missed sights was Père Lachaise Cemetery so I hopped on and off a few metros and found my way there easily enough. This is Paris' largest cemetery and the world's most visited cemetery. It is 48 hectares of cobbled lanes and elaborate tombs and I don't know where people got their maps from but I sure wanted one because trying to locate the two tombs I wanted to was a very hard task with no map. I think I got lucky in the end finding both Jim Morrison's and Oscar Wilde's by tagging on behind people who looked like they knew where they were going.

Come on baby light my fire...

Jim Morrison, still adored by fans

Oscar Wilde's tomb is now surrounded by glass to stop people kissing it and leaving lipstick stains all over it

New life...

A map REALLY would have come in useful when I was trying to find my way out. I started to get a little creeped out and decided it's definitely not a place I'd like to be when the sun goes down.

Would you look at that, it's dinner time! I'm going to head across the road and try the Indian restaurant. I've been told it's fantastic and I've been waiting until 7 for it to open! Then it'll be an early night for me to refresh my batteries for my next stop tomorrow.

Mmmmmm chocolate from Belgium, I'm already salivating x