2006 Europe Trip
Paris
On Friday, Matt and Becky left Ireland for a weekend in Paris. Time to try out our limited knowledge of French!
Friday night, we walked around Notre Dame (it had closed to tours, however, so we didn't go in), did some walking to get our bearing on where we were (our hotel in the Les Halles area, not far from Notre Dame, the Louvre, etc.), had dinner (at a highly inadequate italian place - oh well...), then pretty much just collapsed after a long day.
Sacred Heart
Saturday, we rode the Metro to the Montemarte area - to see the Basillica of Sacre Coeur (the Sacred Heart). This church sits on a hilltop overlooking Paris, up several long sets of stairs built into the hillside (we walked up but took the funicular down). The church is a landmark in Paris, visible from many other areas. Outside, it was a bustling Parisian meeting place - vendors, tourists, locals, etc. all sitting and walking, enjoying the beautiful weather (and an unfortunate girls' choir from the U.S. blasing out bad versions of Aretha Franklin songs from the steps...) but inside was a quiet cathedral. Since the day the church was built, someone has been inside 24 hours a day, praying for God to have mercy on the sins of the world. Pretty amazing stuff! Anyhow, unlike Notre Dame which had no problem with cameras, this church didn't promote photography. Too bad, because the inside was lovely.
Here are some views of the outside of Sacre Coeur
Just down from the church, the hillside provides glimpses of the Eiffel Tower, also. Here are pics of us with the landmark in the distance.
Leaving Sacre Coeur, we found a bookstore that had a children's section in back. Becky and her family have always read and collected Babar the Elephant books, so I had to check. Sure enough, we found one I didn't already have, and is written in French, but it's a kid's book, so I understand most of it.
From there, we took the metro towards the Champs Elysees.