When we woke up on Tuesday, it was raining. Raining hard. Delaney felt sick and did not want to go anywhere. So we sent Greg and Alyssa on their way to Montmarte to see the Salvador Dali Museum and we would check back with them later. We then all went back to sleep. Around 4pm, we all met up again and headed out to Montmarte.
Many, many stairs. Too many to climb. We took the funicular (a.k.a. the Turduckin, family joke) up to the Church (our Paris Visite metro tickets worked for the funicular.). We saw some guys using these stairs for exercise: running, crawling up backwards on their hands and knees and one staircase from the top, one guy told the other guy to carry him as he RAN up the stairs!
Always the Drama Queen! Secret's out, she didn't really have to walk up all those stairs, but nice try.
This is Sacre Coeur. HH thought it was the most beautiful church he has ever been inside. They had a strict no picture taking policy inside. We saw the guard kick out a couple of girls for taking pictures then accuse another girl. Her mom told him she didn't take any pictures and he made the girl show him the pictures on her camera to prove it. He let her stay. He meant business. This church sits atop a big hill and has a wonderful view of the city.
In front of the church, there is this little park like setting and you can take a meandering path up instead of walking straight up in those stairs shown above.
One metro stop down was Pigalle, the home of Moulin Rouge, so we went. Don't bother! It is in a neighborhood filled with sex and porno shops. It is quite a let down when you finally arrive. NO BIG DEAL! I felt gross walking down that street.
We had some dinner and then headed over to The Arc de Triumphe to watch the sunset. When we arrived we discovered that there was over 200 steps to the top and everyone felt too tired to go up. So we just hung out at the bottom, watched people and enjoyed the sunset. They were flying this flag over the tomb of the unknown soldier.
For all of you who have never been to Paris, let me give you a little tip. Do not try to cross this big, heavily trafficked road. There are stairs that will take you to an underground tunnel and take you straight to the arc. We saw mom's with children trying to cross. The stairs are not marked very well but they are there!
3 comments:
Oh, my, I can't imagine anyone trying to cross the Champs Elysee!
Looks like you had a great day at Montmartre. It was so crowded when we were there, we left after a short time. But still enjoyed it.
Great minds think alike! My itinerary was so simliar to yours!
The day I did all these things was a really packed day and I was SO EXHAUSTED. I didn't figure out the funicular until my trip DOWN. Man, I really got my exercise this day.
I feel like I missed something at Sacre Coeur. It may have just been the exhuastion, but I thought it was the most overrated thing I saw in Paris. I easily could have skipped it. But to each his own right? They were definitely intense about the photo taking when I was there too!
Totally agree with you regarind the Moulin Rouge. After Sacre Coeur I got some dinner and then figured I would just walk to the Moulin Rouge. That's something I'd never do again. It had just gotten dark and this was the one time in Paris I felt uneasy. I kept trying to tell myself that it was probably just like New York, meaning it probably only felt scary because I wasn't familiar with the area, however, I'd read that it wasn't the best neighborhood so I really had the creeps. Once I got the to Moulin Rouge there were a lot more people out, but I just had such an uneasy feeling still I snapped one photo and booked it to the metro.
I headed to the Arc de Triumphe after as well, and you guys were smart to stay at the bottom. I'm glad I went to the top since I'd never been, but it was seriously exhausting and the stairs are in a very enclosed area and all spiral, I felt sick when I got to the top and had to sit for a while to take a breather.
Oh, and the underground stairs! This was my one moment of real confusion and frustration. I think it took me going underground three times to finally understand how to get there. When I saw those busy roads there was no WAY I was going to try to cross!
Wow, it sounds like I had a miserable day but I really didn't! It was just SO packed, and it was my last night in Paris so it was go go go.
Wow, long comment, I should have just emailed you. :)
Love all this pics so much.... you guys did it right ;-)
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