Paris Thursday 28 August

After I got some wifi done last night, catching up on everything, the hotel wifi has failed today. I’ll just have to find a cafe tomorrow on my travels around town. I took my time getting organised this morning, after a great night’s sleep. My room is right above the street and the traffic (mind you, only one lane) was bumper to bumper; however, it’s very quiet, so the windows must have double glazing or something.

I found the nearest Metro station at Voltaire and began to re-acquaint myself with the network. Everything went well, changing to several different lines and I found myself at the nearest stop to Sacre Coeur. Many of the trains had a busker, playing accordion or guitar: nice to have the music! Walking up the street with hundreds of other people, the magnificent church dominates the skyline. The narrow street up the hill is chockers with souvenir shops, all selling the same things.

Walking up the steps to the church I stopped counting at 300! That takes care of “stairs withdrawal” after the ship! The SILENCE instruction at the door is obeyed by the majority, so it’s fairly quiet, contrasting to the crowds outside. Inside there’s some beautiful artwork but not ornate like the Orthodox churches in Scandinavia. I sat for a while and prayed, enjoying the rest and the peace. Then the nuns in the sanctuary started singing – heavenly! No pictures are allowed inside, but I turned on the video just to capture the sound. It turned out that they were starting Mass (in French, of course). I would have liked to stay but I hadn’t had a drink in a couple of hours, so I didn’t think I should stay that long.

Outside again, the view over the city was spectacular. It took quite a while to get back down the bottom, where I found a lovely iced latte, then back to the Metro; everything went well until it turned out there was track work on the final three stops before the Eiffel Tower, so the train began heading back to where we came from. I hadn’t seen the sign and announcements were in French: buses replacing trains! Sound familiar? So I thought I’d back-track and go round in a circle the other way. This time I was alert and got off to take the bus for the final stops.

There are still summer crowds around the Tower but nowhere near as many as when Graham and I were here the first time. The top level was temporarily closed, so I didn’t go up, as we went to the first level last time. As lovely as ever!

I bought a huge “ham sandwich” (a large baguette) and water and started my bridges walk:

Pont d’lena

Pont de l’Alma

Pont Alexandre III

Kids rock climbing just along the bank of the Seine! an activity that's set up for the summer, I think. There was also a skateboarding ramp: very popular!

Pont de la Concode, crossing to the Place de la Concorde (where Marie Antoinette lost her head), and then finding the Metro station for the trains back to the hotel. So I figure I walked quite a few miles today over a period of about 7 hours. I grabbed some more fruit and another yummy cake and the food I have will do for dinner. Maybe tomorrow I’ll go to a restaurant.