Yesterday I got a later start than I would have liked, as I’ve been having a hard time waking up and having energy (this should have told me something, if I was listening). I decided to head to the Eiffel Tower, just to knock it off the list. I went, I looked at it, I looked at the very long lines to get up to the top of it- and I left.
Afterwards I wandered along the Seine, looking at all of the museums and finally deciding to go to the Musée d’Art Moderne.
After a snack and a rest in the museum cafe, I decided to go explore the Montmartre area. The first stop was the Montmartre Cemetery where I wandered aimlessly, well aware that some famous people were buried there but remaining blissfully ignorant of who.
And then I stumbled upon Nijinsky’s grave!
It seems to be a theme for me on this trip- following cats around and visiting cemeteries. So imagine how delighted I was to find that this cemetery was home to some cats.
I continued to wander around and climb the many stairs and hills to get to the top of Montmartre, to the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur where there was an amazing view (probably better than the Eiffel Tower, I’d say) of the city.
I had a late dinner at Cafe de L’Industrie with my friend from the bus, Amin. I actually tried escargot and blood sausage. The escargot was served in a sort of garlic pesto sauce, which made it easy to forget that you were eating snails.
Sadly, today I am feeling pretty sick. I think I got really dehydrated with all of the walking yesterday, and I’ve had a bad sort throat and body aches all day. I have literally done nothing today except eat breakfast. My goal for the day is to take a shower eventually and then wander over to a food market and get something healthy to eat (and maybe go find a park to eat it in.) This is depressing because this means there’s quite a bit in Paris that I’m not going to get to see- but I’m also realizing that I can’t keep going at the pace I’ve been going at, because clearly my body is unhappy with it.
Tomorrow is my last day here before I catch an overnight bus (leaving at 7:30 PM) to go to Berlin. I definitely don’t want to be sick on the bus, so resting today is even more important.