It’s my 45th birthday, and it’s been the best birthday ever! We wandered down the street to a little café (don’t stay at the Novatel, it’s a 20 minute walk to the nearest café or train station) and had a lovely omelette for brekkie. Next was our first experience with French trains, and we ended up at Notre Dame after a quick platform change and then a little bus trip. What an amazing Cathedral; absolutely gorgeous with the most fabulous stained glass windows. We were there for just over an hour I think, and sat down at one point to take it all in.
We stopped at a little café outside and had a nibble – and I got a yummy banana and chocolate crepe – hey, it’s France, I needed chocolate and crepe!
We jumped back on a train and headed to Montmartre to have a look around and also to go up to the chapel of Sacré Cœur. We wandered up this narrow street, up the hill, and onto a little park. We sat there for a while (so that I could breathe again) and just admired the buildings. Paris has these fabulous four and five story apartment buildings, made of a very pale (almost white) block. They all have lovely French doors (uhm… obviously) and little ironwork balconies. Most of the windows have flower boxes with bright red flowers in them – it all creates a lovely scene to gaze up at.
We continued climbing and came across the first plaza leading up to the Sacré Cœur. We must have taken the scenic route as there really weren’t many people where we were, until we turned the corner. All of a sudden, there were hundreds of people! The view was just incredible – I am pretty certain this is the only real hill in Paris, and every tourist (who wasn’t at the Eiffel Tower) was at Sacré Cœur. Well, it was a spectacular day, and a Sunday as well, so church was on for all the good people of Paris.
There was a street performer – a guy with a soccer ball, who did a balancing act on one of the pillars. It made for a great backdrop! We wandered into the church and mass was on – with beautiful singing by the nuns. So we sat down for a while to just take it all in. The stone of the church was lovely and cool, so I spent some time leaning up against it. I leant against stone that was built in 1873 – very cool indeed!
Here is the website for the basilica: http://www.sacre-coeur-montmartre.com/us/index.html
We took a cable car back down the hill to the district of Montmartre. This area is well known for all of the artists who live (and have lived) there. This was Toulouse-Lautrec’s favoured spot, so I thought it fitting to buy a bag with one of his designs on it! (Chat Noir). It was a busy place, tourists and tourist-aimed shops everywhere, and big signs warning about pick-pockets everywhere. It was definitely lively though, and so we decided to drop into a little pub for a cool-down drink.
Next, we walked along the Rochechouart Boulevarde to have a look at the Moulin Rouge. This is like the King’s Cross of Paris – sex shops, sex supermarkets, and even a sex museum! We saw a couple of the ladies walking and working… and saw one too many drug addict begging or shaping up to someone. So it was a rather quick look at the Moulin Rouge afterall. It was smaller than I thought, and not as glamourous, but I would put that down to it being broad daylight, where we could see all the seedy without the glitz.
We went back to the motel for a little rest before dinner and a night tour. All of the fancy restaurants are closed on a Sunday night in Paris (boo) so we decided on an “illuminations” tour instead. I had always heard that Paris should be seen at night, and it has confirmed even more for me, that this is the most beautiful city in the world. We went past all of the landmarks, and the word ‘illuminations’ is the right one – they were all lit in a spectacular way. It gave the city a ‘look at me’ characteristic that isn’t there during the day – although during the day it’s there, just a very different sort of ‘look at me’. The tour went for 90 minutes, and the highlight was of course the Eiffel Tower. It is spectacularly lit at night, and every so often, they set a light show off on it. Little lights, like Christmas tree lights, flicker on and off, like they are dancing all over the tower (excited little lights to say the least). The photos don’t show how good that looked, but when I figure out how to upload videos, you’ll get a good idea!
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