A split day - Rue Cler and Montmartre; return home then Seine cruise at night!

      Everyone loves croissants, and we've seen "pain au chocolat" which is a croissant with a ribbon of dark chocolate running through it in several bakeries, but not at the time we wanted them. Croissants are so much better fresh, so we've waited until today and made that a goal. (The bakery across the street has them, but only first thing in the morning, so by the time I've decided to wander over there - it's been going down to the mid 40s at night - it's been too late.) Our goal was met with a wonderful example - we chose the right place! It was in Rue Cler - a mostly pedestrian street with a variety of shopping on both sides. I'm pretty sure it becomes pedestrian-only a couple of times each week - maybe Wednesdays and Sunday mornings (which is a rarity to have any access to fresh goods on Sunday, but many Parisians stop by after church, on the way home). Clever merchants!  Anyway, we got the pain au chocolat, and a couple of beverages - I am still amazed by the widespread availability of San Pellegrino instead of Perrier, but I guess it is imported (raising its status) - and an Orangina, which is very much like Orange Crush - lightly carbonated orange soda.

      Absolutely. Wonderful.  The ratio of chocolate to croisant didn't seem very generous, but with all of that air, it was just right. Well-balanced, and delicious. This was the first time we could enjoy sitting outside with a snack and watch people going by, because there weren't any smokers near the table we chose. Score!! The pigeons are quite fat and ever-present...we watched them eat our crumbs, and others' crumbs, and they were having as good a time as we were - but at no cost to them! :)

     After we'd sat for a while, we made our way back to Montmartre - there was a "little train" that wound its way through the narrow streets with narration and French music. We caught the train across from the Moulin Rouge (one of the train's two stops), and it wound its way up to the top, where it stopped near Sacré Cœur. We'd already seen the Sacré Cœur area, and had great seats (it was crowded seating, and we'd been lucky enough to have an entire row to ourselves), so we mostly stayed on the train during the 15 minute stop. Whilst up at the top, there were several shops, street artists sketching people, and an organ grinder. (I checked - it was a woman, and she didn't have a monkey, but I have a photo anyway). We returned to the departure point (this is in the Pigalle section of Montmartre, famous for its "night life" and adult entertainment offerings, and I learned it was named for another artist. Montmartre was the place where many artists lived, including Toulouse L'Autrec.) and decided to walk partway up the first street we had ridden up on the train. I found the bakery from which I'd gotten the massive macaron in the metro - it was called "Paul" and I took a photo for that reason, and also for our nephew Paul who's studied French. I checked, and found the macaron to be just 1/10 euro less than at the other place, but was still savoring the pain au chocolat, so resisted the offerings today.