Part 4 - MontMartre

We needed to head back to Paris for our return flight so decided to spend our last days in MontMartre, a quaint neighborhood built on a hill with spectacular views of the city. We hauled ourselves up the never ending steps of the Sacre Coeur to take in the view,

Rode the Carrousel de Saint-Pierre there

Wandered the cobblestone streets,

Ate more french fries

Saw interesting street art

and the Wall of Love

where “I love you” is written in over 300 languages.  Yep, the world needs more of this.


We stumbled upon the Moulin Rouge

And ended the day with more macarons

We had one day left but had already checked off all the things that we had wanted to do, see and eat. We thought about going into the Louvre as everyone had said “how can you go to Paris and not see the Louvre?” so we googled “how many Van Goghs are in the Louvre?”


None.


None?


Apparently they moved their French impressionists collection to the Musee D'Orsay, a gorgeous Beaux Arts building, which has 27 Van Goghs!  How did we miss this when we did our travel planning? We bought tickets for the next day and were not disappointed!

Van Gogh has two full rooms which we saw first but then spent the good part of the day in awe of the collection.

It was the cherry on top of an already perfect trip.   Beautiful architecture, croissants, Nutella crepes, macarons,  Disney in French, a terrifying, death defying bike ride, walking in the footsteps of Van Gogh, driving around Provence, a Mediterranean boat cruise, stunning art, and riding 6 carousels including my first double decker.  Best of all was 10 days making memories with my youngest daughter.


Then came the long flight home - but with the perk of an empty seat between us so we could stretch out a little, plus Cate Blanchette’s latest movie “Where’d You Go Bernadette”, which I had missed in the theater, was an airplane offering. I obviously live a charmed life.

Totally exhausted, Peachie and I parted in Boston and both got home safe and sound.

Two days later I got a text:


Want to go kayaking in Alaska?


Oh dear god . . .