Paris 2024, Day 1: Departure and hitting the ground running

I have TSA Pre, so I typically only have a taxi pick me up to get me to the airport about 1 hour in advance of take-off. But I don't do enough international travel, and I have never flown on TAP Air Portugal before, so I didn't take a chance with cutting the recommended time short; I ordered the taxi for a pick-up that would get me to Dulles a full 3 hours in advance of take-off. Needless to say, I was peeved when the taxi didn't arrive on time. After a few minutes, I called to find out where they were, and was told that the car was "up to 12 minutes away." So, when that time came and went, I called back. This time, I was told that the car was still 10-15 minutes away. Huh? What the hell? And then after that 15 minutes went by and I called a third time, I was told yet another 15 minutes. They had no way of properly telling me exactly where the car was, so I could attempt to figure out the accuracy of the purported timing. Ultimately, the Washington Flyer taxi driver arrived 45 minutes later than the ordered (and accepted) time. What's all the worse, the driver never even acknowledged (let alone apologized for) the fact that he was 45 minutes late. It was a foregone conclusion after he was 15 minutes late that I wouldn't be giving him any tip, but once I did everything I needed for check-in and arrived at the gate, I called up to make a formal complaint and request a refund of my fare, as such late timing is utterly unacceptable and they need to reinforce that.

Everything else about the travel to Paris went smoothly enough. The transfer in Lisbon took a while, since they had only two customs agents to process the entire planeload of mostly U.S. citizens; fine, given it was a four-hour layover. What I hadn't appreciated at the time, though, was that I wouldn't need to go through customs again upon landing in Paris. (Of course, because it's travel within the Schengen zone.) So, while waiting for my checked bag -- and it seemingly taking forever -- I was worried that it would take an inordinate amount of time at customs, and then I would need to cut short my time at Sacre-Coeur and/or Montmartre prior to going to the Moulin Rouge. As I collected my bag and started walking, I realized that there was no customs area. I asked a nearby airport employee where I needed to go, and he pointed out that it wasn't needed since I was processed in Lisbon; I was free to move about.

The next concern that I had was how to use the 7-day travel pass in their metro system. None of the instructions that I had seen (if you could call them that) made it clear that this card (which didn't seem to have any RFID tag in it, and didn't have a mag stripe on it) was actually what got swiped for entry into the system. But it worked, easy peasy.

Finally, I arrived at the hotel, dropped off by bags, and made my way to Montmartre, first to go to Sacre-Coeur and then to meander the town for a bit.

The initial climb up these two sets of stairs en route from the exit of the train station (which itself was a sizable set of stairs) to the cathedral was rather daunting (about 80+ stairs each); definitely took a bit out of you. But that was nothing like what I would encounter soon enough.

First up was the Eglise Sainte-Pierre de Montmartre, a cute little chapel just next to the cathedral.

But just round the corner was the main event...

...including their National Vow etched into stone:

And while the view of the vast expanse of Paris from the front steps of the cathedral is something else, it pales in comparison with the view from just a wee bit higher up.

I made my way around to the side of the cathedral where the entry to the narrow spiral staircase to the top was located. Mercifully, they not only had period "landings" where people could get out of the way while they rested for the rest of the ascent of approximately 300 stairs, but they also had amusing signs along the way to encourage you to keep on going up.

But the effort was surely rewarded.

In the distance are the two tallest towers in Paris -- Tour Montparnasse on the left (only a few blocks from my hotel) and the Tour Eiffel. Truly amazing with each new breathtaking view of just how far in all directions Paris extends.

After having recovered my strength from the climb, it was time to go back down yet another narrow spiral staircase. And then to do a little bit of exploring of Montmartre. One place that was rather shocking to see:

There was some great branded merchandise of all sorts inside - it was absolutely hysterical seeing the Merde brand on so much. (Look it up in a translation app if you need to.)

During my meandering about, I saw some random street art to include some pixellated images. Apparently that artist has well over 1000 such images scattered throughout the city, and many in several other cities worldwide, too. 

Last but not least was going to the world famous Moulin Rouge. 

It very much lived up to the hype.

(Somehow I didn't take a photo of the monkfish entree; just of the salmon appetizer and of the chcocolate dessert.)

The dinner quite tasty, the "half bottle" of champagne that was included with my meal was more than I have ever drunk in one sitting, and the music that accompanied dinner was a mostly 70s feel which gave it a fun vibe. And the main show itself was reasonably tasteful. And some of the "circus" acts that punctuated the other... displays... with mostly topless (or at least strategically so) women were really impressive.