Paris with Friends (Part 2)

Meeting up with Debbie and Devin was the original purpose of our trip. Our regular readers may remember that Debbie and her daughter, Zoe, previously visited us in San Sebastian. This time, Debbie was traveling to Paris and London to make up for the Covid-caused cancellation of Devin's Bat Mitzvah. Devin, who picked her aunt to travel with, was new to international travel and she did great.

After finding their way on public transportation into the city, we met Debbie and Devin and set off on a walking tour of central Paris. As this was Debbie's first visit to Paris as well, we were excited to show off my second-favorite city in the world. We made sure to introduce them to the patented Paris public water fountains:

Notice how Shana got the still-under-construction Notre Dame Cathedral in the background of the photo -- impressive.

After an early night for our jet-lagged friends, we set off for a full day of fun. First stop, ironically, was back to Montmarte. And, of course, the first thing we needed to do there was get some fantastic pastry and coffee for breakfast -- easy to do in any part of Paris:

We visited Sacre Coeur, which is a beautiful modern church (built late 19th - early 20th century), and offers great views of Paris:

Montmarte means "mountain of the martyrs," and is so-named for Saint Denis, the first Bishop of Paris, among others. Denis was martyred in the 3rd century by decapitation and (according to legend) carried his head while still preaching up to this area where he ultimately died. He is depicted in statutes and art holding his severed head. For some reason, Shana liked this concept so much, she wanted a picture:

Despite the grizzly basis for its name, the steep, winding lanes of Montmarte are beautiful, and it remains a center of art in Paris, which it has been for more than 100 years (many famous artists including many of the Impressionists worked here as street artists before becoming famous):

After Montmarte, we took a quick walk through Pere Lachaise, the famous cemetary in Paris where many famous people are buried. The main purpose of our visit was to show Debbie Jim Morrison's grave, which must be one of the most visited there. But, Pere Lachaise was just a stopover on our way to the L'Atelier des Lumieres, a place we have visited several times before. This time, the show focused on Cezanne (which I enjoyed a lot) and Kandinsky (less so), the first of which was set to very nice French music.

That is Debbie and Devin on the left enjoying the show.

More of Paris to come.

Hasta pronto,

Jeff and Shana