Third day in Paris

Evidently, mom’s first day in Paris was an absolute success! The next day was Sunday so I woke her up and took her on my Sunday routine: 1 train stop, 3 metro stops, and then a 20 minute walk from there to my ward in Versailles City. It was such a pleasure for me to have my mom be able to meet a few of the ward members I had become friends with: my dear friend Maria Babin, the Brother, Sister, Valentine and Emilée Caussé, Sister Salinas, Sister Jones, Mathieu, and others. Luckily, the mission president’s wife was there so my mom had an English speaking friend to discuss the lesson with. Everyone treated her so kindly and she came with me to Sunday School.
After church, I decided to take mom up to Montmartre to see the Basilica of the Sacred Heart – Sacre Coeur. We took the metro to Pigalle then hopped on a bus going up the hill. We hopped out and carefully avoided the salesmen who try to grab your wrist and tie a bracelet to it to force you to buy it. We followed the path up to the basilica and wandered up the stairs and inside. We enjoyed walking around while the mass was going on and looking at the Christian paintings. Then mom suggested we climb the dome to see the view from the hill, so up we went the flights of stone stairs! She kept trying to convince me that it was safe to lean out the window..ha..anything for a good picture. Though the day was cloudy, the view was nice an

d clear. We then moseyed down the darling streets of Montmartre and to one of my favorite places: the artist square. Dozens of independent artists paint on canvases set up in a courtyard and you can watch them paint or sit in for a portrait. Mom and I both are kicking ourselves for not purchasing one of the small oil paintings. We picked a random restaurant and had spectacular luck! We both had delicious French onion soup, I had lamb and mom had then we shared crème brulé and mousse au chocolat for dessert. I blushed crimson when the waiter complimented me sweetly on my French and mom was so pleased she left a bigger tip. As we started back down the hill, we stopped a cute little French family to see if they would take a picture of us, and as we walked away, the little boy chased after mom and handed her his piece of candy with a big smile. It was adorable-mom said ‘merci’ and the little boy laughed and ran back to his family. All in all, another great day for the Americans in Paris!