Montmartre

Today was my chance to visit the Sacre-couer and Montmartre area.  The kids had already visited it and I heard the walk back was the longest walk of their lives. First le'ts talk about the steps!  Just in the train station - you had a gazillion stairs to climb. They were nice enough to build a seat into the wall for the poor souls who aren't used to a lack of an elevator.

Once you get there, you have a choice of paths to take. There's the fake stone wood staircase. Let's call it the "natural" path.  It provides great climbing opportunity as long as you don't mind the smell of urine. Asia asked why it smelled like pee and I told her that most likely at night since the stairway is hidden, people use it as a restroom.



For those who want plain old steps, here you go.

Here's one way to get down I suppose:

Once you finally get to the top, you're awarded with a breathtaking view of the city, as long as you don't mind all the tourists. John took the kids inside during their first trip.

In the square in front of the Sacre Coeur, there are all types of street performers.  In the one below, a man would climb a pole or do different athletic stunts with a soccer ball balanced on his head or on his foot.

In the video below, the performers asked for 4 young volunteers from the audience. It took some coaxing, but 3 girls volunteered at first. Finally the smallest one ran up and joined in.  The performers asked the kids if any of them spoke English, none of them did. The performers then said in English, "Good because then you won't know that you're about to die."  

The kids even had a chance to hear the story of Noak's ark from a puppet show that was performed (tape recording) in English and French.

At montmartre, Asia really wanted to ride the carousel, but not to go on one of the pretty ponies. Oh no.... She wanted to go on the "spinny thing."  Zach said he wasn't going to go on the spinny thing. I had no idea what she was talking about. And she did get Zach to go on it and he had his head down and eyes closed most of the time.  Such a good big brother.