A weekend in Paris: Day 2

Breakfast at the hotel and then we zoomed off again on the metro for the day. First stop; Jardin du Luxembourg with a beautiful palace and De Medici fountains. A wonderful hour or two walking while people watching and viewing art work in the gardens, people sailing remote control sailboats on the lake, even a French band playing in the rotunda.

Then walked across the Seine to catch the metro to take us to Montmartre. We passed the Notre Dame along the way; renovations still in full swing. We viewed project photos and were gob smacked at the extensive damage. Reno's have been ongoing for 4 years with planned completion date of December 2024.

We arrived at Montmartre at the Anvers station; ie at the bottom of the hill. So, the tens of thousands of people who visited the Louvre yesterday, all descended upon Montmartre on Sunday. Unbeknownst to us, it was the harvest festival this weekend. Hundreds of food and mostly wine stalls lining the streets around the Sacre Coeur. We were queuing for about 20 minutes just to walk up the steps to Montmartre.

We decided if you can't beat them, join them. Lunch was raclette and a glass of wine. Then we spent some time wandering the streets of Montmartre, taking photos and just taking in the sights and enjoying the atmosphere.

We tried to attend Vespers at the Sacre Coeur at 4pm, for the beautiful music; but there were so many people walking through and talking constantly; that we gave up and left.

We joined a walking tour at 5pm with a very colourful French lady who told us many interesting facts about the area. Thoroughly enjoyable.

We hopped back on the Metro and were back home at 8pm. Dinner was a Croque Monsieur. The rest of the night was spent packing and getting ready to leave for the airport (to fly back to Melbourne) first thing in the morning.

Paris was a great way to end our Camino holiday!Read more