France Day 7

We started the day with a walk to Montmartre. We found an amazing (like we were in Africa) morning market and bought some delicious pears and hats. We sat on the steps of Sacre Coeur looking over Paris and listening to a harpist play La Vie En Rose. It was so romantic. We walked through Montmartre (historically the art district of the city) and saw the artists painting, so charming.  I finally was able to get my Croque Monsieur that I have wanted to try since my 9th grade French class and Brad enjoyed some good schwarma. 

We then took the metro to the city center and got off right by the famous Notre Dame. It was not as big as many of the other cathedrals we have seen but it has been in the center of so much French history it was incredible to see it in person. We walked around Notre Dame and went into the Shakespeare Books store which has to be the coolest book store we have ever seen. The shop still has the beds where writers would sleep and bookshelves surrounding a piano is a brilliant idea. Someone was even playing the piano and we sat and listened, though I would have loved to dabble on those keys.

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We took a walking tour of the St. Germaine (the district known for writers, thinkers, and philosophers) and found a sign directing us to the former site of the Bastille. In it's place is the Colonne de Juillet. We explored the Place de la Bastille and got delicious crepes. We stumbled across the Place de Vogues where an opera singer was serenading the public with Ave Maria. The acoustics in the Place de Vogues were perfect for this evening concert. In the Place de Vogues we found Victor Hugo's house. 

We headed back to our hotel and in the Metro station we attempted to buy our tickets to Brussels for the next day when we found out about the bombings. We rushed to our hotel to find out more and sure enough the conference that was our reason to come to France in the first place was cancelled. Everyone we knew that was going to be there was safe and stuck in the hotel because everything was shut down in Brussels. We felt deep sympathy for those killed and injured and their families. We felt both humbled and grateful for life and our itinerary flying our of Paris and not Brussels. We called both our parents and let them know we were safe and now staying in Paris for the 3 days we were going to be in Brussels.