Paris - Day 2

We sleep in until 9am and then head downstairs for the hotel breakfast. There are baguettes and pastries aplenty, very French. 

Our first full day in a new city is usually a big one and this one will be no exception. We figure out how to get a metro ticket to use for our entire stay here and it looks exactly like the old Adelaide Metro tickets. Very retro. We take the metro out to the Latin Quarter and walk past the famous 

Shakespeare and Co bookshop. There's a line up out the door. Ugh. We continue on through the quarter and take 5 and have a cappuccino at a Cafe across from Luxembourg park.

We finally get the Parisian experience we were warned about. The waiter seems to be in a grump, he's brash and walking around the place  in a rush, throwing menus on empty tables from a distance, startling customers. Perfect. 

When it comes to pay the €11.80 we leave €15 in notes. He comes past, grabs the notes and then starts tapping all his pockets like he probably doesn't have change, or at least it is too hard to sort out. We patiently wait for him to miraculously find the change. Here's a tip, you aint getting a €3.20 tip from us. 

This was more what we were expecting based on the warnings but happy to report he has been the exception to the rule thus far. In fact, tipping is not the norm here from what we've seen and read. 

We head into Luxembourg Park and there's plenty of people making good use of the space and sunshine. Picnics, baguettes, sail boats, Frisbee, it's all happening. We come out of the park and wander through some markets that are kind of like a trash and treasure type market. We make it through and onto the Catacombs. We're bummed to find out we needed a ticket in advance as they are booked out until well after we've left. We cheer ourselves up by buying pastries from a nearby bakery and having some ramen for lunch. Not very French, but the area and street we're in seems to do a bit of everything. 

It's been a busy day already so we get the metro back to the hotel for a rest and refresh. We head out a little while later on the metro, this time for the Montmartre area. It's quite hilly with nice views as we walk up the cobble stones streets. We stop for a wine and beer at a bar on the main strip and watch the world go by. Plenty going on as it's Saturday evening in Paris. We continue on, we're aiming for the Basilica as we've heard there's some great views up there. And there is. There's a nice grassy hill with an exceptional view of the city, where locals and tourists are sitting having drinks and picnics.

We buy a couple of beers from one of the street vendors (not the legal kind). We sit and watch the sun go down and our personal bartender is back to sell more beers. Jeff tries to barter and there is some friendly banter, but we end up giving a more than a generous tip thanks to Courts. She's in good spirits and why not with this view and vibe.

A little later our beer guy is back and sits down next to us. We get chatting and it turns out he's not taking a break, he's hiding from the police. He and all the other vendors. Apparently it's not legal to be selling booze like they do and the punishment is they get their contraband confiscated. We find out he's here every night in the summer and takes the winter months off. We conservatively estimate he's making €2 per beer and selling well over 200 a night. He was here until 2am last night. 

Can't sit around drinking illegal Heinken all night, time for dinner. We find a restaurant not too far away that despite the hour (around 10pm) it's still bustling. Courts has the roasted duck and best mashed potato she's ever eaten and Jeff gets beef bourguignon with fries. It's all delicious and goes swimmingly with a carafe of red wine. After the meal the waiter asks if we were given bread and she is gobsmacked when we say no. Never mind you wouldn't get a glass of water if you were literally evaporating  in the street but God forbid you don't get a side of bread with your carbs! 

We wander off, still more to do as we're on the late schedule here in Paris. We wander through what seems to be the red light district and we're seeing a different side of Paris. We make a very quick trip to a casino on Champs-Elysées (don't ask) and get our chip. Time to walk home. We go via the arc de Triomphe and despite it being 1am the traffic is heaving. It seems to be some sort of car speed dating going on here as passengers from one car chat up another. What a town. City of love and all that.