Sacré Cœur

Our goal today was to get to the top of the dome of Sacré Cœur Basilica and we decided to walk the 3km or so there as a warm-up. On the way, we passed some interesting streets, a monument to the Republic, and lots of early morning commuters and traffic (I say early, it was about 10.00). What started out as a sunny day quickly became quite grey and overcast and cooler than we had expected.

It's been a while since we climbed some stairs, having the luxury of lifts in our accommodation of late, but we made up for it today. Our route took us up the side of the square and gardens in front of the Basilica, which was a little more vertical than the way we came back down. Once at the top, we decided the queue wasn't terrible and so we hopped on the end, lamenting the last time Adrian had visited when he just walked straight in (I had the same experience at Notre Dame back in the day). We got inside in under 20 minutes which we can't complain about because by the time we came out, the queue had doubled. We had a quick look inside, there was a mass starting and we thought it must be challenging for clergy and worshippers to focus with all those gawking tourists around.

The goal was to go up not in, so we found the ticket office to get our €8 tickets to climb the dome. There was no queue. It's interesting the effect a cover charge can have or maybe it is the 293 steps 🤔. We took our time and eventually made it up the long, narrow spiral staircase to the top. The view is sensational, and we did our best to get a good shot of the Eiffel Tower once we got our breaths back.

What goes up, must come down, and so we picked our way carefully back down again on wobbly legs. This time, we descended through Square Louise Michel, the more recognised and zig-zaggy approach to the Basilica, then through the touristy area of Montmartre. With some strength left in our legs, we felt we could do the 3kms back again if we stopped for lunch on the way. With lots to choose from (cafes are to Paris as pubs are to London), we decided pizza was just the thing. The two pizzas we ordered looked like a lot when they were put down but disappeared quite quickly, must have been all those stairs.

By the time we got back to the apartment, we'd done 8kms plus 293 steps. Having achieved our tourist goal for the day, we declared a rest afternoon was in order.

After a big lunch, we thought we only needed a small dinner so we went out around 7.00 to look for somewhere to have something light with some wine. We found a wine bar that did tapas, including escargot 🐌 which was one of the things on our list of things to do in France that we hadn't ticked off yet. So we ordered a dozen snails, which were done in a herby sauce with bread (what French dish doesn't come with bread?). It was my first experience of snails and they were very tasty (it really is all about what they are cooked in rather than the snails themselves, and these were very good.).

From there, we headed back to the apartment, thinking our night was done. There was a small bar next door to where we were staying which we hadn't been into yet, and, as luck would have it, they had a darts board. The owner (we assume), Guillaume, challenged Adrian to a game of darts, and the rest is history. Needless to say, by the end of the night, we'd gotten to know Guillaume, Stefan and his son, Elias (locals), and Julian (another local), had more wine and enjoyed a cheese and charcuterie plate (prepared by Guillaume, or Gui Gui as we know him now, to show us how good French produce is and which he didn't charge us for) all to a David Bowie soundtrack (Gui Gui is a big fan). It would be fair to say that the quality of the darts wasn't great, but we had a very memorable night. Eventually, we said good night to our new friends and made the very short trip home next door, having had one of those memorable holiday experiences we shall remember for a long time.Read more