Samedi, 10 Mai

I woke up as the sun was rising and made M get up and take some pictures, then we both fell back asleep.

We slept in again, and when I woke, I read and ate a macaroon from Angelina's. Once we deemed ourselves good and ready, we wandered into the mall attached to our hotel and had lunch at a great chain that served sandwiches on baguettes. There was a gourmet grocery store in the mall as well. The produce section was amazing; I got a fig just to have gotten something there, and we picked up a few gifts for those back at home. We dropped the stuff back off at the hotel, called Stine and made dinner plans, then took the Metro to Sacre Coeur.

We approached it from Place Saint-Pierre, and it was on a hill-top. A big hill, with lots of short stairs. There was a carousel and lots of street vendors and people everywhere and LOTS of beggars. The church was beautiful, and more strict than Notre Dame and St. Chapelle, despite the touristy area and obscene amount of litter. No pictures were allowed, and the only memory that stand out to me now is that the foot on the statue of St. Peter was worn down to a sock.

We didn't do much walking in Montmartre; it was packed full of people (it was, after all, Saturday) and decided to try to hit Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise. We walked in and jotted down the sections in which some famous people were buried, but the place was so large and crowded and illogically numbered, we couldn't find anything. I approached someone who had a map and she told me she got it at the main entrance, so we headed out the way we came and walked the blocks and blocks to the entrance... and found out it was closing in about 15 minutes, at 6pm.

We decided we'd have to come back to Paris and try again.

In the meantime, we went to an ice cream stand and I ordered for us and we sat outside and watched the locals, enviously. Refreshed, we took the Metro to the Bastille, but there was nothing left to see so we got back on the Metro and went to the Pompidou.

There were street performers on every side of the museum, and crowds standing, sitting, or picnicing, enjoying the shows. Since it was so late, we didn't bother getting tickets but did go in the atrium and spent a while browsing in the bookstore.

We met Stine and Marc at the Tuileries Metro stop and after lots of squealing and hugging, went to one of the brasseries on the Rue de Rivoli.

Stine and I chatted and chatted and chatted, and fortunately, Marc and M got along well and kept one another entertained. After dinner and dessert, we all went back to the hotel and hung out and talked some more. It occurs to me now that we should've ordered a bottle of wine from room service!

We made plans to meet for breakfast, then Stine and Marc left and we read for a bit and went to bed.