FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 9, 2011
WEATHER:-Cloudy
EVENTS:---Day 5 in Paris, went to Arc de Triomphe & Montmartre

There was not as much noise outside our apartment with garbage collection this morning so we were able to sleep until almost 8am.  We got up and Sue made some instant coffee.  She also heated up some milk to make cafe au lait.  We had some juice, bread and cheese and I had some yogurt and a few cookies.  I worked on stuff on my laptop for a while and we each took a shower.  We got ready and left the apartment around noon.

We got on the Metro and went to the Arc de Triomphe.  We emerged from the subway somewhere on the other side of the big traffic circle (Pl. Charles de Gaulle) around it.  There were stairs leading down to tunnels under the street that took us safely across Pl. Charles de Gaulle.  When we emerged at the Arch, we explored around it and took pictures.  There was a brief rain shower so we took the opportunity to go up to the top.  Once again, our museum passes allowed us to zip in ahead of the line of people waiting to buy tickets!  Inside the Arch was darker than outside and there were several flights of stairs leading up to a room with displays and things to read about the Arch.  Then there was a spiral staircase that went up and up and up.

Eventually, we made it to the top.  Once outside, I was looking forward to cooler breezes but there was no breeze at all and it was very muggy right after that rain shower.  We looked around at the view and I took a bunch of pictures.  In addition to the views, we watched the traffic try to negotiate the Pl. Charles de Gaulle down below which was endlessly entertaining.

After a while, we went back down from the top of the Arch and walked around the outside.  Then we walked back under the Pl. Charles de Gaulle in the pedestrian tunnel and started looking for a place to eat down some side streets.  We sat down at an outdoor cafe and had lunch.  I was surprised that I was hungry already but I was not surprised at how thirsty I was after climbing all those stairs.

After eating lunch, we walked down Av. des Champs de Elysées for a while.  Then we stopped to look at the map to find the closest Metro station.  We found a Metro station close to where we were and hopped on a subway train going the wrong direction at first.  Sue spotted that we were headed the wrong direction so we got off the train at the next stop and found our way to the other side of the platform and got going in the right direction.

We got off the Metro at Abbesses and began climbing a LOT of stairs.  I couldn't believe how deep that subway was and it turns out to be one of the deepest Metro stations in Paris.  I was totally out of breath when we finally emerged out into the little artist community and nightclub district.  The town was very hilly and we began walking up streets, following signs to Montmartre.  At first, we couldn't even see the Basilique du Sacré Cœur but eventually we could.  Everything was uphill!  There were roads that went uphill and then flights of stairs that went uphill.  It reminded me a bit of hiking up to see Coit Tower but this was more intense.  It was a workout climbing up all those sets of stairs and streets to get to the Basilica.

When we finally got there, we walked around and the view of Paris from up there was pretty good.  There were throngs of people from tour busses.  Then we went inside the church itself to admire the inside.  There was a sign asking for silence and no photos so everyone spoke very quietly in there.  We walked all around inside the church and then sat down inside for a while.  There was someone who worked there who was making sure people did not take photographs.  The ones he caught were asked to leave.  We were quite entertained watching him run around stopping people from taking pictures.  I dubbed him the "Camera Nazi."

When we left the church, we bought tickets to go up to the dome.  The woman we bought tickets from complimented Sue on her impeccable French.  There was a narrow spiral staircase that just seemed to go on and on.  There were a few landings where I could rest and catch my breath and let other people go by.  The sign at the bottom said there were 300 steps to this staircase.  The spiral staircase finally let out onto the roof through a tiny door.  We walked through a channel carved out on the stone for rain runoff and I could see where the water would drain out.  I could see that if there was an absolute deluge of rain and the downspouts were overwhelmed, there were channels cut in the top of the gargoyles to channel the rain out the mouths of the gargoyles.  There was a path to walk along on the roof with a stone railing so we followed that and it led to another extremely narrow and tiny spiral staircase.  This would NOT be the place for someone with claustrophobia!  The stairway eventually led out to all around the dome.  There was a great view from up there and I took a lot of pictures.

After being up on the dome for a while, we went back down the two spiral staircases and back down to the main level of the church.  There were musicians playing for tips on the steps leading from the park to Montmartre.  We walked down through the park to some of the streets in the town.  The steps through the park were very steep.  We were stopped by some street vendors from Senegal who insisted on quickly weaving some bracelets for us.  There was a drum team playing on the street with a crowd of people gathered around.  We visited a perfume shop and I was enjoying the air conditioning in there for a short while.  Then we found a place to eat and sat outside.  We ended up making friends with a couple, Robin and Tamera, that we sat next to.  They were from Cape Town South Africa.  Robin was very outgoing and was making friends with his "African brothers" working at the restaurant.  We had a great time with them and then they moved on.  Sue and I had a nice meal and I was drinking in the ambiance of where we were.  For some reason, this little town was my favorite of all the places I had been so far!

After dinner and paying our bill, we walked down the streets and found an ATM.  I got some money out and then we found the Metro station and went down the long spiraling staircase to the subway below.  The subway ride back to our apartment was not as hot as some of the other subways had been this day.  We walked from the Metro station towards are apartment and bought a bottle of wine from Le Montebello.  We brought the wine back to our apartment and we both took a shower to wash off the sweat from the day.  I downloaded the pictures out of my camera while Sue took her shower.  Then we had a glass of wine out in the courtyard outside of our apartment.

When we came back inside, I showed Sue the pictures I took this day and then I was too tired to do much more.  We went to bed sometime after 11:45pm.