Monmartre

Saturday.  Our final full day in Paris and we had one more check to mark on our list - Montmartre.  Famously known as the home to the Sacré-Cœur Basilica and the Moulin Rouge, and we were there to see them both.  And yes, we realize that we are mixing religion and debauchery into one morning.

The area of Monmartre sits 430 feet (130 m) above the city of Paris.  It is a stunning view but also one that takes a lot of stair climbing to get to.  If you want, you can opt to take the funicular to the top and avoid the leg work out, but we have never been a family to take the easy way out.  Up and up and up we went.  But it proved to be the for the best because the streets are where all the action is.  Artists painting portraits in the middle of the road, people having coffee in small cafes tucked back into little nooks, a random antique car roaming the streets.  It was a visual feast, and one that we would have missed had we just gone straight up in a cable car.  

Our first stop - Sacré-Cœur.  Perched on the highest point above the city, the basilica is the second most visited monument in Paris and is both a political and cultural monument.  And I can see why...

Back outside, we walked down, down, down in search of some lunch and a wee bit of air conditioning...

And then we were off to take a quick gander at the Moulin Rouge before heading back into the city.

We still had some time left in the afternoon and decided that the Louvre would be the best place to spend it.  We have all been before, but it's one of those places that you can go again and again.  So back to the city and the air conditioning (I did tell you they were experiencing a heatwave in Paris, right?) to take in some art and history...

MadHatter has a traveling buddy that we photograph in the cities we visit.  His name is Squigy and he is a septapus (seven-legged octopus).

It was nearing dinner time, and we once again had plans with family that had just arrived in town.  At the request of the littlest of us, we headed back to L'Entrecote.  Seems that she loved it just as much as we all do.

 The girls and I called it a night (B went out with the visitors for a quick drink).  We were off to Amsterdam in the morning, and I needed to get some packing completed.  As always, Paris sure knows how to show a girl a good time.  A la prochaine Paris!