Montparnasse to Montmartre - La longue marche

Note to our Readers - This blog has been written by Mario, since he is the author of most of the day's adventures. Cathy may choose to add in an appendix to the day's events after the main tale.

Early this morning, my body decided that it no longer wished to sleep. 3:30 am early. For some reason, my sleep cycles and the Paris time zone just don't seem to agree. After 3 hours of tossing, turning, listening to music, visualizing myself sleeping, I gave up, and decided that I was officially awake. Since our rented apartment is about the size of a walk-in closet, I figured that my travel partner would not appreciate me turning on all the (one) lights, so I got dressed, and headed out the door for a morning walk.

The neighborhood was dead quiet. No shops or cafes open, and the night clean up crews still at work. The only other signs of human activity was the delicious smells of fresh bread emanating from the bakeries, but I would have to wait until 7:30 for the store fronts to open. With no daylight savings time, at 6:30am, there is still two and a half hours to wait before the sunrise. I spend the hour aimlessly wandering every street of Montmartre, getting a rare view of what Place du Tertre looks like without the bevy of artists, and the hordes of tourists.

By 7:15, the first cafes were just cracking open their doors to serve the morning dog-walkers, who would pause for a quick cafe while their pets looked on, and other insomniac tourists like myself. At 7:30, I hit up the local bakery for fresh pains au chocolat and amadines, and returned to the apartment to wake up my lovely companion.

My lovely companion, however, was not feeling so lovely this morning, possibly the victim of a bad oyster. She turned down my offer of coffee and pastries for breakfast, and promptly decided that today, it would be best if I toured on my own.

The morning's first destination would be the Paris Catacombs. The catacombs are basically a municipal ossuary, a consecrated ancient, underground limestone quarry, where the remains of Paris inhabitants of the 8th to 18th century have been laid to rest. A 2km, 45 minute walk through neatly, and sometimes "artfully" arranged human bones is enough to get you thinking. I'll post a few photos, and leave the impressions up to you.
After exiting the quarry, and re-entering the world of the living, and seeing as it was a beautiful sunny day, I opted to skip the metro ride back to the apartment, and do what I do best: walk. So begins my 11 km hike across downtown Paris, from Montparnasse to Montmartre, through many arrondissements, each with their own distinct character. I saw soldiers and gypsies, nuns and vagabonds, tourists and businessmen. I heard at least a dozen languages spoken. I passed through streets that were a beauty to behold (and took many photos), and others where I walked half a step faster while ensuring that there was nothing jingling in my pockets (and took no photos). On foot is always the best way to discover the living city.
I visited the Pantheon, final resting place of some of the greatest writers in French history. It is also the home of Foucault's Pendulum, a relatively simple device, which was one of the first to prove the fact that the Earth rotates on its own axis.

I returned to Notre-Dame Cathedral, to marvel at the afternoon sun passing through the medieval stained glass windows.
I bought a used book from one of the book-sellers on the rive gauche of the seine: -"Du cote de chez Swann" by Proust.

I passed by a local Muslim community center, in front of which children played while their mothers looked on.

I walked down a street which consisted only of hair salons which specialized in straightening the hair of people of Sub-Saharan African descent.

I walked through the garment district, where tailors haggled with clients over the price of suits, then I walked through the textile district, where tailors haggled with vendors over the price of cloth.

Finally, I made it back to Montmartre, my neighborhood, and hit up my local bakery one more time to pick up some fresh baguettes to bring home.

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Cathy here:
Needless to say, I rested most of the day. Whatever bug had knocked me down was not letting me back up again, but a good amount of sleep can cure anything, right? Once Mario got back to the apartment, I was ready to get out, so back to Montmartre we went, so I could stretch my legs and get some fresh air. We even caught glimpses of a gorgeous sunset from the esplanade of Sacré-Coeur, with it oranges and yellow silhouetting the Eiffel Tower in the distance.

Funny thing, though - since Mario had been on his feet all day, I was out-walking him by the end of our little outing!