Paris Blog: 4 Weeks in the City of Lights: Canal Cruise and Montmartre!

Monday, July 9th

Today we took a cruise on the canals of Paris. They operate on a lock system which was really cool to experience. The weather was great so it turned out to be a very relaxing day. We had to wait a bit for our boat to leave, but luckily there were these gorgeous little paths and gardens to walk through while we waited.

Coming out of the underground portion of the canal cruise... the canals go underground for a few kilometers... we literally didn't see the light at the end of the tunnel for a few minutes... but here you can!

The water slowly releases from the lock and raises the boat up until its level with the water on the other side... we had a long way to go in this lock.

Okay so I guess the water comes out pretty fast. We got splashed quite a bit while we were sitting in the front of the boat!

Open Sesame!

After the cruise we walked around a Parc de la Villette which highlights new urban art and structures. The playground areas were composed of little hills and fun structures to climb over and under. They also had a miniature zip line for the kids... I was jealous of all the little kids running around.

At Parc de la Villette

The cool playgrounds I was talking about.

The zip line for kids.

For dinner we were supposed to go to this North African restaurant that our TA found online. The website looked phenomenal and we were all pretty excited about the food. However, when we arrived at the location of the restaurant we found only a building with curtains pulled over the windows, no sign, and just an old menu pasted to the door. We tried to peer in.. we didn't know if it had closed and they never updated the website or what we were getting ourselves into. As we're looking in the the someone pulls the curtain and looks out at us... making us all jump back. The door is opened and the women gestures us in... we walk in to this musty old restaurant that looks like a very rundown version of what was on the website. Ah no thank you! We left as quickly as possible... oops.

We were close to where Montmartre is in Paris so we walked up the treacherous hill to the cute little artist district. All the cute little cafes were bustling with people waiting for there meals. We sat outside under a tent with a direct view of Sacre Couer... only in Paris. Since dinner was paid for by the program, Katy and I ordered the 3 course meal... French onion soup, steak, and chocolate mousse for dessert. And to top off our meal we shared a bottle of red wine with our professor.

View of Sacre Couer from where we ate outside.

The little area we ate in had a great view of all the art displayed by local artists. Unfortunately artists rack up their prices here because so many tourists pass by.

The delicious chocolate mouse we had for dessert!

View of the city as we walked to our cafe for dinner!

After dinner we walked around Montmartre, Katy and I split off from the others who were going to see Sacre Couer since we had been there already. We discovered all these great little spots tucked away and hidden from all the usual touristy areas. I don't think anything gets much better than the views from Montmartre at night. We turned a corner and caught a glimpse of the Eiffel tower over the rooftops sparkling. We walked past cute French apartments, even peered into some windows when their occupants weren't looking, scoped out some awesome French cafes, and of course admired all the views of the city down below, all lit up at night.