Is it an omen?

Caught the metro to Jardin des Tuileries. Pictured Steve Buscemi sitting there in Paris Je T'aime. Beautiful gardens, but no sitting on the grass. Wrought iron chairs dotted around the fountains, you just pull up a chair and enjoy.

Spotted the glass pyramid in the distance, but saving that for later this week.

Followed my Lonely Planet walk through the "passages couverts" or covered shopping arcades. Second-hand book and poster shops, one after another! I know a couple of people who could enter these passages and never be seen again!

Metro, metro, metro - I am queen of the metro!

Visited the Basilique du Sacre Couer. Nasty, touristy streets leading up to the Basilique, but all forgotten as I climbed those steps.

Below is the view from the terrace of the Basilique. I did go to take another photo, but a pigeon weee'd on my head. Do you think this is an omen of great portent???? Or does it simply mean what I think it means? Note to self: if you carry a mirror in your purse, you do not have to clean your hair by touch alone.

And for Nicola...the beautiful Abbesses.

This place just draws you in. I had my first real conversation in French. An elderly lady, looking fit as a fiddle, sat beside me on the park bench at the Abbesses place near the metro entrance. She asked if I wanted a cigarette. Are you from here, she asked. (je souhaite!) She said that she had lived there for cinquante cinq years and that Montmartre was "trés interessant" and had "beaucoup variations" (what a fabulous description, a place of many variations). She mentioned that she was quatre-vingt trois years old, then she asked me if it was Monday - I loved that that was the least important thing on her mind.