Montmartre is full of rude cashiers and sellers! On my last trip, I asked a cashier how much the painting costed and she got angry at me for asking me that question! People have actually always warned me that Montmartre is the wost area of Paris – Full of rude people, pick-pocketers, and homeless people. Today, part of my group were sitting outside of the cafe and eating lunch. Two of my buddies and I came over there, and there was only one seat left at the table. So, one of my friends took the seat and the other sat on the floor. I just stood for a few minutes, but it was burning hot and I was sweating to death. Yes, the weather was much better this afternoon than yesterday. Because of the hot and the fatigue, I sat down at the table that was RIGHT NEXT to my group. A random waiter comes to me and gives me the menu. I said, “I’m not ordering anything.” He screamed at me and told me to go away, but hello! My group was RIGHT there and there were no more chairs for that table!!!! Of course, I got up and stood against the table where my group was sitting. The same idiot random waiter comes out again and yells at me again to go away. The daughter of the head chaperone who happened to be with us, told me to ignore him and that’s very typical in Montmartre. Of course! It’s because that guy was angry at me for NOT buying anything! These sellers at Montmartre are SOO greedy and they want all the possible money that they could get! They’re also BIG anti-tourists! Montmartre is also the place where there are artists. In other words, it’s also like an art festival place. There are tons paintings of Paris that we can find there. In addition, there are tons of artists there who do self-portrait drawings. They are not cheap, but we can certainly negiotiate with them. Even if we negiotiate, the price can still be quite unsatisfying. As always, that’s because tourists are willing to pay BIG bucks for anything! We did see Sacred-Coeur Cathedral and it was just another random pretty church. What’s really bizarre is that there are tons of nice old cathedrals in Paris, but nobody goes there on Sundays for services where as a huge numbers of Americans do! It’s really interesting that United States puts more effort into religion than Europe where there are millions of elegant churches. My host family actually told me last night that in one of the French children’s books about how to be an American exchange student, it said in there that Americans go to church on Sundays and the French exchange student must go there regardless! I have to say that’s a real stereotype! Only a certain number of American go there while the other certain number don’t.
On the happier note about Montmartre…It’s a great area to shop for souvenirs. We can definitely beat the prices! To buy a big Eiffle Tower from the Eiffle Tower souvenir shop is 35£. At Montmartre, it’s 23£! In addition, we can find every SINGLE possible french souvenirs, ranging from copied sculptures from the Louvre Museum to Napoleon statues. Yes, I did get a Napolean statue for my brother who absolutely loves history, and Napoleon is one of his favorite historic person.