Part 4

Eiffel Tower, Montmarte area, Pigalle, Cluny Museum, Flea Market, Walk around Marais, Fly Home

The Eiffel tower, from the Trocadero area.  Lots of north african and black african vendors there, all selling the same things.You can tell what the weather is like by the fact that most of the collection is hats and gloves, and only a small portion Eiffel tower related souveniers.


I think there was a little bit of a mafia going on there, because each one of them had the exact same items, and I assume the vendors were there illegally.Walking towards the Eiffel Tower.




This woman was feeding wild cats.  She wasn't happy about being photographed.The base of the Eiffel Tower.


Vendors around the Eiffel tower.You can really see the size of the tower with this picture.


These were counterweights for the elevator that brought tourists up the tower.  There's 3 levels, but the highest was closed.Pictures from the elevator up.


Paris was pretty gray that day. Central Paris has no tall buildings at all, most buildings are 5 or 6 stories in height.


Looking back at the Trocadero.When the vendors saw that the elevator on the Eiffel tower was coming down, they rushed over to the exit, forming almost a human blockade, and tried to get people to buy souveniers.


The Eiffel tower from the Champ de Mars.  It's supposed to be very nice in summer, but the weather this day was the coldest it ever was for us in Paris, so we didn't linger.These poster-covered columns were typical in Paris.


Later that day we went to the Montmartre area, which is supposed to be very charming.  I was a little disappointed, probably because it was so cold we couldn't really linger much.  This interesting building has a sign saying Le Lapin Agile, or The Agile Rabbit cabaret.A typical stairway street in this district.


The Basilique du Sacre Coeur in Montmartre.  This church was started in 1873 but only completed in 1919.The vendors of these paintings weren't getting very far on this rainy, cold day.


Not far away is the famous Pigalle red-light districtThe famous cabaret, Moulin Rouge.


I thought this was a little funny--a McDonalds right next to an X rated movie place.Sea urchins and scallops for sale.


Pigeons for sale!  I wondered if they just trapped normal pigeons on the street, or if these are bred.  I assume they were bred, since they looked pretty large.Oddly enough, there were lots of guys in kilts around in Paris.  I never asked one, but I assume that there was some Scottish group in town.


Eric and I eating dinner that night.  We walked around Mouffetard street, which is full of restaurants, to find this place.  Eric had capon (castrated rooster) and I had lamb.  Not bad at all, although the smoke in the restaurant was terrible.


The next day we went to the National Museum of the Middle Ages, otherwise known as the Cluny museum.  The part of liked most were the tapestries.


I thought this was interesting--this medieval tombstone of a cardinal had swastika on it.


Later that day we went to one of the flea markets in the north of Paris.  It's said to be Europe's largest. It's in a very different part of Paris--mostly immigrants, north African and black African.  We even saw one man, at the entrance to a metro station, begging in Arabic.
This old machine looks like a primitive typewriter.  The stand this was in had all kinds of interesting old electical and radio appliances.Scenes from the flea market.




This seems like a good chair to make in miniature, dad!


An old-fashioned scooter.This guy was roasting sugared peanuts on the street.


A crepe maker.All the tobacco stores/combination bars had these red signs above them.


This is the Marais area, close to the Place des Vosges.This statue was in the middle of the Place des Vosgues, of Louis the 13, who died young.


The park benches were interesting looking.  Two benches were back to back, and shared the same backrest.The National Archive


Centre Pompidou.  It was built between 1972 and 1977, and is mainly known as the "inside out" building, since all of the ductwork (plumbing, etc,) was put on the outside.Surprise, surprise--another stike!  This time the workers at a Pizza Hut were asking for the public's support while they intimidated customers who wanted to go in.  What a joke.


Here's the sheet they were giving to passers-by.  Basically they want more money and better working conditions.  One quote, "Because of the way Pizza Hut is exploiting us, they're making millions in profit, and keeping us in a state of poverty."  My thoughts--get another job if you think you're being exploited!This is the famous Metropolitain Metro station, built in Art Deco style.


On our way home, flying over northern Canada, a great view of the icefields.