"Everyone knows the more you wear pearls, little by little they become real....And isn't it the same with memories?" - The Madwoman of Chaillot

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Beer break, le Phenix and dinner....

Ok, done with the cemetery - for a few minutes were were worried we wouldn't find out way out of this huge maze of a cemetery before it closed but we did. But with the anxiety and the last minute hurry to find those important graves, it was definitely time for a beer break.





We talked with two sets of women here - two from Canada
 and ok, don't remember exactly on these - they had varied backgrounds.

our friendly waiter

The afternoon beer/wine/cider break was probably one of the favorite traditions we set up - always good to just sit for a bit, enjoy the people watching and talk over what we had done all day.

So now, we had to negotiate returning home.
but we were getting pretty good at this by now


We got off near home and went for a visit to Le Phenix - the now closed bar on the site of the bar Dad visited in August or Sept 1944 after the liberation of Paris.  At least we walked the street where he must have.  We so wished there was still a bar there so we could tell our story and go have a beer for Dad!


Now close to home,  we walked back up to Montmartre to find dinner.  Judy and I were intrigued by this store - which we figured out is a health food store - or something akin to Whole Foods here in the US but of course on a typical Parisian market size...

Dinner at one of Bill's favorites because it was the cafe in the movie Amelie. - The Café des 2 Moulins is a café in the Montmartre area of Paris, located at the junction of Rue Lepic and Rue Cauchois. It takes its name from the two nearby historical windmills, Moulin Rouge and Moulin de la Galette.  It is popular because of its location and the movie Amélie

Its a 50's decor and a little noisy inside but there was no room outside.


There was live music and good food





and a lot of fun

"sharing" chocolate mousse...

poster from the movie

Bike Store, Pere LaChaise, shopping

Every day starts with breakfast.


Took a couple of pictures of Jacque and Helene's apartment also



First thing we did today was laundry! There was a nice little laundromat two doors down from our apartment in the same building so it was very convenient.



By this time we were asking "ok, who has something left they REALLY want to see".
Judy was still determined that we would find a copy of the first book of Harry Potter in French in the unabridged edition instead of only kids versions we had found so far. Jacques told us to try Fnac (big department store) by the Gare St Lazare -


Train station - Gare St Lazare


they were out but we got them to check other stores and found there was one in another store...



Judy and I were sure Kevin wanted to find a biking jersey although he kept saying we didn't have to do that - but we really wanted him to so we located a bike store after being told in sporting goods stores that it would be hard to find a biking jersey - everything was soccer....

Another street corner monument...
And a stop for a quick lunch



The guy working here liked that we were photographing the food and him!


But we did find a bike store - and he did get a jersey!




Judy and I sat out some of the shopping across the street with hot chocolate. And wow, it was nowhere near as good as the hot chocolate at Les Deux Magots.


Then it was Bill's turn - he just really wanted to see Oscar Wilde's tombstone in Pere LaChaise cemetery. Did I mention we did a lot of walking on this day?? We got there with only a little time to spare - but managed to find the two most visited graves... including the one Bill wanted.







Number one most visited grave - Jim Morrison of the Doors who died in Paris in 1971 but obviously still has fans, considering the flowers on the grave and how when we started to ask a guard "where is... he pointed the way to this spot...


 And Bill's favorite, Oscar Wilde... also with lots of flowers and lipstick marks on the glass surrounding the gravestone.  And he died in 1900!
Inside one of the monuments - many of them have small altars and kneelers.


So with the cemetery closing, it was definitely time for some refreshment.  Next entry will include that... this is getting long enough.