We had a sleep in this morning having not got home from Disneyland yesterday til after midnight. It was very pleasant. Then off we went.The base of Montmartre is very seedy. There are con men everywhere and as you climb the steps to the Sacré Cœur they even physically block the walkway to force you to engage and they get very annoyed when you don’t. It is a bit yuck really, and you walk up stairs FOREVER, but nothing could stop the experience of standing at the top of Montmartre, looking down over Paris from the steps of Sacré Cœur. One of those special moments, given that I did a project on the area for year 8 French all those years ago. The church itself is beautiful too. Inside it has had continuous Eucharistic adoration for 125 years which is pretty amazing and so they won’t let you take photos. That makes it quiet and all the more prayerful really.
Once we had done the church we headed over Montmartre to the square, via the old St Peter’s church which dates back to the 12th century. The square is a bustling hive of artists,
cafés and tourists by the bus load. We mooched for a short while before heading down the other side to the café La Maison Rose. Chris had decided that this was where he had wanted to have lunch as he had read and learned much about it. Very nice crepes and we shared a tarragon chicken main dish. Yummy. We saw the only surviving vineyard in Paris and the house that is famous for being an artist’s gathering place. Then down more cobblestoned roads, straight down to the metro and off to see the Moulin Rouge.Today we were really picking some of the lowlife places in Paris. The Moulin Rouge is not in a very nice area at all, and it looks pretty tired and aging really, but it is still the Moulin Rouge so we posed for the mandatory photo before moving on. We headed up to the place de Charles de Gaulle to get up close and personal with the Arc de Triomphe.
As it has 340 stairs we decided not to climb it, opting instead for some mandatory photo opportunities before exploring the Avenue des Champs-Élysées. Went to the macaroon shop that our driver recommended and the range was utterly amazing… but the queue was so long that we opted for being good instead! After finding Sephora and spending some time and money there, it was back to the hotel for a rest… boy did we need it.Rested we headed off to try to find the Laundromat .. figured this time that forewarned was forearmed. Visited St Eustache's church which is just behind our hotel, only to have Chris discover that this was the church that he went to Mass in while in Paris in 1979!. He remembered it because of a sculpture that commemorates the moving of the Paris markets from Les Halles that is contained in the church. It is a lovely church, small but very gothic.
Then we went off in search of some very old shopping arcades that date back to the 1800’s on which some of the Melbourne shopping arcades are modeled. After the drama of passing a local fire crew having just extinguished a unit fire, we found the arcades and took a wander. Just so elegant and old worldly and I understand where Melbourne got the idea. And the good news.. well we stumbled across a macaroon shop in one of the arcades and so felt the need to try them.. master chef and Adriano Zumba eat your heart out!! Yummmmmmmmi!
Back to the hotel and we decided to dine at the hotel's Summer Buffet. Quite nice. Then it was off to avoid the track work again as we went up to catch the ferry for our Seine cruise. It lasted for about an hour and had a good commentary and highlighted all the main sites along the river. Then, back to the hotel and finally fall into bed!!!
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