Today's projets (plans) included one of Paris' "newer" sites, new being a relative term, of course. Having been constructed in the 1880s, Sacré Coeur is indeed centuries younger than most popular destinations in the City of Light. And standing almost 400 feet above sea level, glimpses of the white basilica had been peeking above many of our other stops all week. So we were very excited to head up to the 18th arrondissement and finally visit Sacré Coeuron this, our last day, in Paris.
Now we knew the 18th had some rough areas when we headed up there this morning. But both Kam and I have some background in rough neighborhoods, so we know how to conduct ourselves to detract attention. And besides, we were heading there in the middle of broad daylight, on a major tourist holiday, with a higher than usual police presence. So nothing to worry about, right? We had no sooner snapped this shot...
... than we witnessed a man being mugged by 4 types (guys), while being surrounded by another maybe 6 or so of their gang. Done and done! We were so out of there! There is nothing interesting enough about Sacré Coeur to make me drag Mag through that mess, or myself for that matter.
We high-tailed it back to le métro, and suddenly found ourselves with a few free hours. We decided to head back to le Centre Pompidou, as it had been Mag's favorite spot of the week, besides Disneyland, of course. At 6 euro for the 3 of us to ascend, and a much shorter line than our first visit, it was a great - and safe! - impromptu morning.
After Pompidou, we swung over to the 6th arrondissement to see the 17th century Jardin Luxembourg, which Parisians affectionately call "le Luco."
I believe, along with le Jardin de Tuileries, that le Luco is one of the parks in which you see children floating sailboats in the fountains. (You've seen that in photos, n'est pas?) Well, we were either at the wrong fountain, or the boats are only available in warmer weather. In either case, Mag was sad to miss it. But we stopped at le Quick, France's fast food joint, after le Luco, and then picked up some famous macaroons at Dalloyau, so no one was sad for too long.
The rest of the afternoon was spent in la flânerie (wandering & dawdling) around our neighborhood, St. Germain des Prés. Here are a few snaps of the street where we are renting an apartment...
... and our quartier, which we decided will probably be our home base again the next time we're fortunate enough to visit Paris again.
And demain (tomorrow), off to Deutschland (Germany).
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