Day 192

Tourist time. 

I probably walked the entire perimeter of Monmartre Cemetary without seeing a single tombstone. Hell if I couldn't find the damn thing and after an hour going in circles, I didn't want to anymore anyway. I was hot and tired and I had to pee like a muther. I went left like the sign said. Then what, sign??? You left me hanging! After walking down 4 blocks of XXX shops and peep shows and everything! You and your damn arrows. Lies. All lies.

Luckily the Louvre and Champs Elysees were where they said they were. And...wow. I've seen a thousand pictures of the Louvre but like the Eiffel Tower (and Venice, and The David, the Trevi Fountain,  Sistine Chapel and New York City in a taxi from JFK at night) nothing can prepare you or compare to the moment you see it with your own eyes, and no picture you take can fully reflect the magic of these places.

I tried anyway. 

And like the Eiffel Tower and the David, etc etc etc, just when you think you've captured every possible angle, you walk away 10 feet and it's like this whole new thing. Requiring you to stop in your tracks as if you're seeing it for the first time. Requiring a new round of pictures, too, because now trees have entered the scene or the lighting is different here and the Thing is brand new without ever changing.

I sat there today on the fountain at the Louvre (eating a macaroon filled with fresh whole raspberries) looking at all these people with their maps and cameras and guidebooks and money belts. Art has this amazing way of bringing people of all ages and colors and religions and continents together. I know there are much deeper levels on which you can and should appreciate a painting and a sculpture. But mostly, I just dig it's power to bring people together. We're all here to see something amazing. And we all did. 

As for dinner, I found myself in my favorite part of the city (and my home base for the last week), Le Marais. On my favorite cobblestoned street, rue de Rosiers, in the heart of the Jewish neighborhood. Never have I seen more yamakas or falafel joints in my life and never have I been so delighted. I ate at Chez Marianne and it might be the best meal I've had yet (if you don't count the macaroon at the Louvre or my plate at the Marche du Enfants Rouge). The kefka, hummus and olives were perfect but it was the atmosphere that I will remember. I will be back.