Walking in Paris with Alice

My sister-in-law has been here for most of this week and we've done a lot of walking. We followed 3 different guided walks, which were interesting. I have enjoyed the walks by Paris Walks. But this week things have been made more difficult by the transport strike here. This is one of the old metro entrances that were designed and built in 1900 to entice people to use the underground system. This was quite innovative and different in those days. We were lucky enough to get a train on the first morning of the strike that took us to the Mont Martre area of Paris up on top of the hill. We walked around the area before the walk started because we arrived early.This is the basilica on top of the hill called Sacre Coeur or "Sacred Heart." It was built in 1875. We were there on a cold, sunny day.
There are lots and lots of fabric stores in the Mont Martre area. We went into this one and found all these cute little mannequins. They are about 3 feet tall dressed in tailored outfits of all kinds. I took several pictures here. I asked Alice to get behind the table for this one so you could see the size of the mannequins, but I'm not sure it works very well.

And yesterday we took a walking tour of Hemingway's Paris in the left bank area. This is the fountain in the center of the traffic circle where the walk ended. We had lunch in the restaurant with the red awning. We both had Steak, French fires and salad. It was very good. Their bread was also especially good.



Today we are expecting my older son to arrive. He should be at the ariport now and trying to find a way to get here in spite of the transport strike. We sent him suggestions for several options to check into. He's 33, and has done some traveling, so we think he'll figure out something. I'm not at all happy about this strike, but we are dong our best to get around in spite of it, and doing more walking than we would if the trains and busses were all running normally.

Comments

Rose - Watching Waves said…
Oh, Ceci, how nice it must be to have your sister-in-law to go and explore the city with! Great pics, as always. Have a wonderful time with your son's visit!
November 17, 2007 at 7:53 AM
PAT said…
Ceci this is another wonderful post to enjoy! I would have loved to visit the fabric shops!

Good luck getting around. Hope you had a great visit with your son!

The wedding was Saturday, so I'm a bit behind getting around to visiting!

Pat
November 20, 2007 at 6:22 AM
Anonymous said…
Oooh, I remember the strikes. There was a really short transportation strike when we were there, nothing like the big one from the '90s or even this one from the sounds of it. The manifestations were a pain too, always re-routing our buses to and from DS' school. I did hear today that 77% of the workers are now showing up, so hopefully it's getting better. Just think of all that exercise as a benefit -- I get so much less exercise than I used to! Sarkozy is going to win this battle, I think.

Ceci, are you having a traditional American Thanksgiving? What fun it was trying to find all those foods that the French just don't eat without having to pay through the nose at the American grocery store. Hah!
November 21, 2007 at 7:17 PM
Cécile said…
Rose, it was fun going around with Alice and we've had fun with the boys here. I can't believe james leaves tomorrow and Patrick Sunday. the week has gone by so fast

Pat, Thanks, I haven't had time to visit your blog. I hpe the wedding was a huge success. I'll try to get over there to see your pictures.
Jill, no we didn't try to do an American Thanksgiving. We will be home for Christmas, so will do a turkey etc then. It just didn't seem necessary to try to do it this week. WE went out for Ralette last night and stuffed ourselves and had a great French traditional meal. We think the strike is about over. I'm not sure they gained anything at all. It wure is good to see the busses and trains running again.

Ceci
November 23, 2007 at 9:31 AM
Unknown said…
The person who created this post is a genius and knows how to keep the readers connected. Thanks for sharing this with us.
packing and moving in pune.
June 16, 2014 at 11:17 PM
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