Day 67...Amelie from Montmatre - 1st September

Woke up and had a shower. The shower in our room is so odd! At first I thought it was a really small cupboard. Its like a weird cubical in the room and you can shower and stare at the person sleeping in bed. It was great.

We couldn't stay in that room for any more nights as it was booked. We were disappointed, but then got the good news that another room was available. The only difference was that it had a shared shower. The toilet for our room last night was a share one anyway, so whats the difference if the shower is too? Also, it was cheaper - $38 euro! What a steal. The room itself is basically exactly the same but without the shower cubicle, and the view is the same but 2 storeys down. So thats 2 flights less we have to climb. (Only 3 now, yay!)

Together we decided that we'd use this day to get a whole bunch of stuff done that we needed too. Nate was still unwell so it was a good idea to stay in Montmarte for the day. I ended up feeling very glad we did, as we got the feel of the area and the locals instead of hamming it up with hundreds of foreigners at architectural attractions. We felt we got the real Paris vibe today. In our neighbourhood, every shop is either a patisserie, a fruiterer, cafe or cheese shop (fromagerie in french to you). The odd few are clothes and accessories that aren't the big mainstream hoo ha. Every second person walks past carrying a big long breadstick. What is with the breadsticks! We must find out. And all the people here have a very Parisian vibe in their own way, be it dogs, or careless messy hair or a velvet jacket.

We went that morning to the laundrette which always takes a few hours. For breakfast I bought some bannanas at the fruiterer and croissants at the patisserie, and we ate them in the laundrette. Washing your clothes takes up a big part of your day, as apart from the 2-3 hours you still have to get there, and fold your clothes and get back etc. You don't want to leave your clothes washing there and do something else, as there is always the fear that someone will nick your clothes. And then where would you be? Also, you can never be sure how long the wash cycle is anyway.

So after that we popped our photo memory cards in to be burnt onto cd, and had a nice lunch with the french version of Gareth serving us. He was our second lovely waiter out of 3 dining experiences. Very good. A place across the way was playing piano accordian music which added to the ambience as we watched the Parisians float by with their breadsticks. It was a fantastic place to people spot, sitting out in the lane and you could stay there all day. Apart from all having breadsticks, everyone smokes, and some even carry around boxes tied up with string! Just a few of my favourite things. ha ha.

Its weird, everyone raves about Paris so I thought I wouldn't like it as the expectations are so high. Maybe then I inadvertantly lowered mine, so to then see it was a pleasant surprise. Nathan is impartial coz he feels like shit and wants to die at the moment. Poor thing. I know how he feels, as I had it in Bremen and its awful. Your whole body is tired and hurts. So after our rest at lunch, we struggled at the post office and hoped that the stuff we sent got home.

After all those chores, we went back to our room and read and wrote in the diary for a while. Nate rested. Later in the arvo, we walked past the cemetry of Montmarte and up the hill to Sacre Cour. The Basilique du Sacre Cour was built by the Catholics in 1873 after the Franco-Prussion war. It is an impressive white creamy building perched mightly on a hill overlooking Paris. Inside there was lots of ass-kissing statues. Lots of paintings of people looking at saints and priests in complete adoration. The thing we observed throughout our Euro trip with museums and stuff - is that there are so many talented artists, but of course they are all commissioned for their work by the church. So their paintings end up being like marketing posters for Christian hooh hah which is a shame. There's only so many ways you can paint someone clutching at their breast in piety, or christ looking cool or dead.
There were a few religious fanatics on their knees at the front altar, staring up at the cross in adulation (like the paintings really). Maybe they were trying to outdo each other. We weren't allowed to take photos in there, which was a shame as it would have been cool. But the main reason why Sacre Cour is so good is that it sits on top of Butte Montmarte (thats Montmarte Hill to you) which has spectacular views over Paris. I saw it looking for accomodation yesterday and was amazed. From the top of the church to the bottom of the hill is a series of large stairs. Everyone was sitting on them talking and playing music and socialising. The stairs are in the movie Amelie so I loved it. We sat on the stairs for a while and enjoyed the view and the people. We saw the Eiffel tower in the distance, and Paris spread out as far as the eye can see. No highrises. Just miles and miles of whitewashed old-school buildings.

We wandered down the stairs, hassled by touts and meandered through Montmarte eating ice-cream and window shopping. Then we had some wine and crap cheese. It was then made up for by having a light dinner in a cute little place, then headed to bed. Nate was the sick one but I was hell tired too!