Paris: Week Four, Day Four
Wednesday, July 19
Today, I had plans after class to meet up with my classmate, Ziyi (pronounced Zee). She planned to go on the cultural tour to Montmartre with my school, and then meet up with me to visit the Montmartre Cemetery.
After class, I went home to rest and study. Around 2pm, I headed to Montmartre. It was a 40 minute trip by metro. Imagine my surprise when I jumped off the metro to see all my classmates standing there! Ziyi convinced me to tag along with them. We spent almost 2 hours wandering around Montmartre. This tour covered the same spots that my first tour did except this one was all in French. I didn’t understand a word the tour guide said.
Ziyi and I practiced our Chinese. It was fun to speak it with a native speaker. Occasionally, Ronald, another classmate, joined up with Ziyi and myself during our explorations. These two people quickly become my favorite folks in Paris!
Eventually, our group went to the Sacre Coeur. We approached from the base of the building. It was my first time to approach this way. There were so many stairs! And there was a cool fountain at the bottom. I tried to get some photos of it.
Afterwards, Ziyi and I headed to Montmartre Cemetery. We had about 1 hour before they closed. For some reason, I had no problems finding the entrance this time! We practically stumbled across it. My time there was way too short but I recorded as much as I could while I was there.
You can check out the visit to the Montmartre Cemetery on my post Montmartre: Cemetery of the Large Quarries.
When it was time to go, the cemetery steward rang the bell.
We split up. Ziyi went to the carnival with some classmates and I went to my favorite restaurant in Montmartre, La Ville des Abbesses. I ordered my favorite meal of raw salmon, cooked salmon, and a dessert. This time I tried the banana split. I noticed they gave me less salmon this time but it was ok because it was too much food last time. I also tried my first ever alcoholic drink: a lemoncello. It was quite strong. Apparently, the French believe it is a digestive, to help with digesting food. I don’t think it did anything but make me sleepy!
Once my meal was complete, I decided to head home. On the way home, I recorded a brief video to show you the stairs of the Abbesses metro stop.
I spent about 40 minutes on the metro. After getting home, I immediately fell asleep. I didn’t wake up until the next day.
