Hi everyone. Last full day in Paris up fashionably late then headed out to the Vincennes castle complex at end of eastern metro line. Castle was amazing definitely worth going to and we were able to ascend the highest donjon (keep) in France, and all through this very intact royal castle complex including his and hers royal residences, and see graffiti and murals left by political and criminal prisoners in the keep including the very naughty Marquis de Sade. After lunch in the vincennes town back to Paris to moulin rouge at Montmartre to meet up with Mick and jan marie. And yes Patricia I gave Mick a big hug and kiss in the restaurant for his birthday!
After that the hill climb up rue lepic then rue tholoze to the apartment. Mick and jm needed oxygen at the base camp before the final ascent but we got there. After a drink we headed back down the hill to the Latin Quarter in St Michel near the Notre Dame for drinks and a meal. As you see from the photo Mick got frisky with the bouncer at the Club Havana. Went for a meal in the quarter with a very interesting dungeon toilet below the restaurant. I made the mistake of pulling open a side door in the wall of the toilet cubicle there while I was on the toilet and the tunnel behind the door was full of giant black rats running around under the kitchens!
Just kidding it was just a lot of old smelling dirt and other junk, couple of skeletons etc. Rule one: don't look too deeply into the kitchens of old restaurants. Ended up getting back after midnight on the metro.
Up late and packed on Tuesday getting ready for the trip out to Charles de Gaulle airport.
Goodbye Montmartre! Goodbye steep streets of MontEverest! Goodbye croissants and coffee! Goodbye derelicts lying in the street with vomit all over you! Goodbye beggars with new mobile phones! And especially goodbye to the moulin rouge! Aaah..., the breasts of the Moulin Rouge!
On to our next country morocco! You may or may not hear regularly from us in morooco. In a nutshell though we four intrepid travelers are hopping in a with our guide Abdu at Casablanca and driving all over morocco for nine days until Marrakech. We then catch an overnight train north to Tanger before catching a ferry over to Spain, landing at tarifa then picking up a car at Algeciras for the Spain leg around andalusia.