We woke up this morning and decided to go to breakfast at a place not to far from us called Josephine’s. Thomas recommended it, and it’s a local pattiserria and boulagerie. We sat on the 2nd floor overlooking the shop and had a delightful and quite filling breakfast consisting of omelette, fruit, fresh squeezed orange juice, ficelle and viennoiseries (small baguette and pastries).

After breakfast we walked to the Arc de Triomphe, which was very close to the restaurant. This monument was built in 1836 to commemorate Napolenons 1805 victory at Austerlitz, which he commissioned himself. It is 50m high, 45m long and 22m wide. With neither of us being overly fond of heights, we chose not to climb the 284 steps to the top, but took lots of photos.  Right near the Arc, was an enormous public drug store, with a quite modern fascade. We walked down the Champs-Elysees enjoying the view of the shops, Louis Vuitton, BMW cars, hundreds of motorcycles, cafes and not as many tourists as we expected. Motorcycles, not bikes, appear to be the preferred transportation here.

We returned home, went to the market to stock up in fluids, then shortly after we started our trek to our next destination – Sacre-Coeur. Now I have to admit, getting there tested out Metro skills, and required 3 different trains. We’d ridden the RER, but this was our first run at two different lines on the Metro. Thomas recommended an app, that was tremendously helpful. It maps your route and estimated times. There were many women begging for money, and the overhead speaker recommended we watch for pick pocketers. So we so excited to make it there with no problems.

The Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris, commonly known as Sacre Coeur Basilica or simply Sacre Coeur, sits on top of hill in Montmartre, which means the hill of martres. St Denis, the first bishop of Paris was decapitated on this hill, which is why it was built there. To get up to the church, you have a choice, climb 300 stairs, or take the funicular, which is a small railway that shuttles 35 people at a time. Guess which one we took? It didn’t take long at all. In mom’s guide book it says it only takes 90 seconds, but that is exhaggerated.

The view of Paris from here was amazing; you could see for many miles. It’s actually the highest point in the city. We sat on the steps watching people take selfies. This is when I realized my lens had fallen out of my glasses. Fortunately I still had the screw, but nothing to screw it in with. So I walked through the church in my sunglasses. The inside of the church was lovely.

The style was inspired by churches such as Hagai Sofia Istanbul and San Marco in Venice. The bell tower contains the “Savoyarde“, the majestic bell, is one of the world’s heaviest bells weighing over 21 tons. The interior of the church contains one of the world’s largest mosaics, which depicts Jesus Christ with outstretched arms. The mosaic was done between 1900 and 1922. We had a choice to walk up,the dome, which was another 234 steps with a spiral staircase…we stayed on the main floor.  The art, domes, and style of the church had us prefer this one over Norte-Dame.

After exiting the church, we walked some of the side streets in Montmartre. We were asked by multiple artists if they could either draw or paint our portraits. We declined and kept walking. There were dozens of touristy stores selling junk and Paris memorabilia. None for us. Instead we decided to grab lunch in a cute cafe in the town. It had gotten chilly and we felt like soup, so,we ended up, with French onion. Damn typical tourists..lol. But it was good.

We took the metro home, and were able to backtrack outperform way without too much difficulty. Then 30 minutes after walking in the door, it started raining. We were lucky today. And even with skipping all the steps, we still walked 11,500 steps today.