Peter's Random Travel Blog: Just Another Day in Paris

Altogether, we only have 4 days in Paris and we can't hope to see everything so there is no need to try. With the Louvre taken care of and the Eiffel Tower booked for tomorrow, we could have an easy day today. Of course, you should know us by now - we didn't...

After a casual continental breakfast, we set off for Rome station on the number 2 Metro line. We rode it as far as Anvers, the stop for Montmartre and Sacre Coeur. We walked up the side street full of souvenir sellers. These were upmarket ones with shopfronts - not that it made any difference in the quality of souvenirs. At the edge of the shops there is a funicular to the top. We shunned that and set off up the grand staircase. We made it to the top with a little huffing and puffing (and rests on the way) and thought "What is another 300 steps, of course we have to climb to the top of the tower."

Sacre Coeur from the top of the grand staircase

Before ascending the 300 steps, we gave ourselves a little rest by visiting the Crypt. It was an interesting mix of tombs, private chapels, artifacts on display and storage. Yes, they had there surplus chairs stacked up in unused corners. Feeling ready for the climb, we set off. It went in a couple of stages and was quite manageable. More importantly, it was well worth the effort. The view was fantastic although a bit dull because of the smog hanging around even on a Sunday. Having spent all our time in the centre of Paris which has been mostly protected against modern multi-story developments, you aren't aware of the extent of these on the outer fringe. Paris is huge! No wonder the traffic is a mess.

A chapel in the crypt of Sacre Coeur

The things you find in a crypt

The view from the top

Some of the detailed stonework high up on Sacre Coeur

We descended the tower and wandered out into the Montmartre district to the side of Sacre Coeur. Although interesting, it was a tourist-trap so we kept walking downhill into Abbesses. Deciding that we would visit the Musee d'Orsay on the other side of the Seine, we jump a number 12 Metro to Solferino. The Musee d'Orsay is the Paris home for 19th Century art and includes works by artists such as Monet, Degas, Renoir, Van Gogh and Cezanne. It is also the home for the typically crazy Parisian ticketing arrangements.

The main square of Abbesses

Buskers are to be found all over Paris

Walking up to the building, we passed a street kiosk with a sign that read "Buy your tickets here and go straight in". At there entry there was a reasonably long queue at gate A to buy tickets that looked like it would take half an hour or more. Gate C looked like where you would go in if you had pre-purchased tickets. So, not being 100% certain of my reading of the sign that was in French only, I went and ask the man there if I bought tickets from the kiosk, would this be where I came in. In his most unhelpful French way, he replied that he knew nothing about the kiosk and to buy tickets I needed to go to gate A. So I went to the kiosk and asked there which gate we would use. The answer was "gate C" so we bought our tickets (no waiting), walked in through gate C (no waiting) and left everyone else in their queue!

Queuing for those that don't know any better

Inside, the museum was worth the effort. To be able to see a wide collection of works by well known artists was fantastic, especially seeing the originals of some commonly reproduced pieces - Whistler's Mother and Van Gogh's self portrait to name two. Now I won't be filling up today's blog with lots of photos from inside the museum. Whereas the Louvre allowed non-flash photography, the Musee d'Orsay realised that most people are too stupid to be able to turn their flash off so they had banned photography altogether.

A good three and half hours after going in, we staggered out. Instead of doing the sensible thing of jumping the Metro, we decided to walk across the Seine and through Jardin des Tuileries. Once across the park, we could see a monument down the street so we had to go and look at that. It turned out to be in honour of Napoleon and it was located in the centre of Place Vendome, the home of every up-market jewellery shop in Paris. From there, we kept walking because by now we were almost at the Paris Opera and we didn't want to miss seeing that building. At that point, we were almost back to our hotel so, rather than take the Metro, we kept walking until we got there. After a bit of a rest, we walked up to Villiers and had a very nice dinner at the Village Cafe which was very French in spite of its name.