Paris scenes

Paris sunrise from our hotel room

On Thursday, we spent the entire day, from 10 am to 6 pm, walking around Paris. If we had walked direct routes to the sights we visited, we walked 13 km (about 8 miles), but our walk was not direct, so I think we walked closer to 10 miles. While we are on our adventures, I think about having a step tracker or pedometer. When I'm home, I never remember to load one on my phone, so I only estimate our long walks. Our feet told us this was probably the second longest walk we've taken on our trips, second only to the fortress walk in South Korea (the one where I misread circumference as diameter for the fortress, making that walk 3 times longer than I anticipated).

Julie, who had to work that day, suggested we start with a visit to the Sacre Coeure, a church on a hill near us with views of Paris. It is a basillica in the Montmartre neighborhood and was a nice start to the walk, albeit all uphill from our hotel, with over 300 steps to reach the patio in front of the church.

Our next stop was Moulin Rouge. It isn't just a movie title, but an actual cabaret. It's in a seedier area of Paris, with the nearby businesses being adult toy shops mixed with regular businesses, like dry cleaners and cafes. I guess even cabaret dancers need to have their outfits cleaned and the tourists need to stop for coffee and pastries. Moulin Rouge was not open yet, being a late-night venue, so we joined the other tourists in the street median to get a picture. From this area of Paris, we headed southeast toward the Seine River. Captioned pictures decribe some of the scenes we saw. The passages were covered alleys between the major streets.

typical street view, no buildings over 6 stories

Notre Dame de Lorette (not the big Notre Dame,
there are actually several smaller ones)

entrance to one of the many passages, covered and paved alleys
with shops and cafes

Paris Opera House

main entrance to the Louvre

in the Jadin de Tuileries

one side of the Louvre

kids playing in the Jardin de Tuileries

statue in the Place de la Concorde

statues at a bridge over the Seine River

statue of Lafayette, erected by donations from
USA school children 

Eiffel Tower

public toilet (free)

Arc de Triumph

We had dinner Thursday evening at Julie's apartment and met her friend, Alex. Friday morning, we awoke to rain, so I started this blog post. I stopped to go with Julie, Alex, and Phillip to Notre Dame (the main one), planning to finish the post on the train to Lyon. Unfortunately, the French trains do not have the same strong wifi onboard like on the German trains. Our bed and breakfast has no wifi, so we are using Julie's phone as a hotspot to get this Paris post published. When we get to Lausanne tomorrow night, I should be able to catch up. If not then, probably Monday as rain is expected in Lausanne that day.

Phillip is having a great time! (Of course I am!) He's loving the cheeses and the breads, the scenery, even the walking.