Happy Ascension Thursday….a national holiday in France. Churches and many businesses are closed…and one Resistance museum. Oh well; I'll catch it next trip.

I started the day visiting one last church, St. Severin. Another oldie, this one in the Latin Quarter. Not much else to say… you can see the pictures.

After that, I did something really geeky. Paris is known for its outdoor markets, and while this is often a produce market or maybe a flower market, it can be anything. On Thursdays, there is a stamp and postcard market in a nice area just north of the Champs Elysses (CE). I was intrigued. There were probably 15 vendors, and they had binders and binders full of postage stamps from around the world. They also had postcards from around the world, some really old. Some were never used, but others were cards that had been sent to someone. It must be the voyeur in me, but it was fun to read the old postcards. And apparently people are buying and trading these things, because this market happens every week.

I headed to the CE to catch the metro and saw two unexpected and great things. First, I cut through a small but beautiful park. IN a corner of the park, I noticed an opening between some tall shrubs, cut through it and found an old, old, old puppet stage (see pictures). It was so cool.

Next unexpected thing: premier bathrooms on the CE. I was looking for a restroom; there had been one back in the park, but it was one of the self-cleaning types (which are REALLY slow) and had a line. So I'm walking up the CE, and I see a sign for premier bathrooms inside a shopping center. I go in search of it. Turns out, it cost 2 euros to use, but there was a personal attendant who inspected/cleaned each bathroom (all were private) before and after use. They also a couple cool displays, one of toilet seats and one of rolls of toilet paper. (again, see pics.) Best 2 euros I ever spent….

Next stop was Montmarte, the old artists colony on the north side of the side. Also home to the Moulin Rouge and the seedier side of Paris. My first stop was to the Museum of Erotic Art. That's right, Mother, e-r-o-t-i-c a-r-t. First, this really is a museum. Display cases, well lit and clean, security cameras, etc. (And seriously, Rick Steves mentions it in his books….he doesn't recommend it, but he mentions it.) And don't bother skipping to the pictures for this day, you won't find any for the museum. It was good for about 45 minutes of entertainment. Some was historical….mostly old 'artifacts' made/used by Asians. (Remember the US started largely as a colony for the Puritans. They would not have had much to contribute to this museum.) There was a really interesting section on the history of brothels in Paris (early-to-mid 1900's). I'll let you use you imagination as to what the rest of the museum was. Honestly, there really wasn't anything that shocking.

Next, I roamed up and down the streets of Montmarte until I found the pottery shop from which I made some purchases last time. I replaced one of the pieces, which broke earlier this year when I had a bonehead moment and I picked up a couple of new pieces.

After that, I headed back to the apartment for a break, then went out after dark to do some night pictures. I finally had an evening without any rain; I think the only one I had the entire week. The pictures kept me out until almost 1am, but I'm pretty happy with them, and I love walking a city at night. There are plenty of people running around Paris this late at night; it felt very safe.