A View from the Top - Montmarte, Paris

Paris, during the winter months, is magical. Our last stop on our tour was Paris and what a way to cap off a fabulous vacation. True, it did get a little cold and there was a little rain, but still nothing can take away the magic of the place. On our first night there, we were still with the insight group but as usual, we wanted to do things on our own (plus we didn't want to spend extra on the optional tour), so we went by ourselves up Montmarte (an artist colony) where the Sacre Coeur Church can be found, we rode the funicular up (we could have walked, but really, who would want to in the freezing condition but we did walk down (hey, money still doesn't grow on trees :))



The place was different from what I remembered when I was there 7 years ago. Honestly, all I could remember from the last time I was there was that little French bistro we ate at and some artists painting. This time up, I had a whole new appreciation of the place. Although, I thought that the place has become more touristy than the last time. Nevertheless, I thought the place was exactly what an artist colony should look like.



The first thing we did when we got up was take pictures, of course. This time, we had the tripod with us so we wanted to get really excellent shots. Unfortunately, the freezing weather and our hungry stomachs refused to cooperate with us, so we ended up taking a few shots only before we slipped into the Sacre Coeur. There were so many people inside so it was hard to move around but the church was gorgeous so that more than made up for it.



We had some crepe along the way while looking for a restaurant we can eat at. Wasn't that good, actually, but we were tricked into buying by long lines of people ordering that stuff (lol!) And I thought the French were gourmets (well, I guess most of those lining up were tourists like us, haha!) Anyway, we had dinner at this nice restaurant but the place was so full that in order for half of our group to get into our seats, they had to move the entire table. What this means is that once you are on the other side of the table, you cannot get out, unless the entire table is moved again. So much for bathroom breaks. The food was so-so so no need to recap the meal here. Still, we were hungry so it tasted pretty good.

J'aime le Paris!!! :)