Paris – Arc de Triomphe and Montmartre

Our Eurostar train back to England left at 9:15 p.m. tonight so we had all day for final explorations in Paris. Our plan was to try to keep the day a little more quiet than the past few days as we've done incredible amounts of walking and we wanted to take some time to just enjoy Paris. It was a good idea in theory, but there's so much to see in Paris! It wasn't as relaxing as we had hoped, but we still enjoyed meals at street-side cafes and had a more laid-back day compared to the previous three days.

First stop was climbing two hundred and eighty-four steps to reach the top of the Arc de Triomphe. Inside the Arc there is a large area with displays - mom and I found the history of the monument to be particularly interesting (the Arc is essentially a tribute to France's accomplishments in war).






Next stop was Montmartre, an area with a focus on artists (those who have lived or worked in the area include Picasso, Money, van Gogh, and Dali) and cabaret clubs, including the Moulin Rouge. An older woman I know in England shocked me by suggesting that me and mom really must take in a cabaret show. I asked if it wasn't just a bunch of half-naked women dancing and she said no, many shows are quite classy and a lot of fun. Mom and I checked out a couple of brochures and both the exhorbitant prices and photos of topless woman turned us off the idea without hesitation.

Montmartre is built on a hill and we caught the Metro to a station at the bottom of the north side. We walked partway up the hill and stopped at a cafe for lunch. The waiter was charming, the food was delicious, and the sun was shining.

The view from my side of the table.

Salad with roasted vegetables, mozzerella cheese, and prosciutto.

Pastry with strawberries and whipped cream mixture - I think I tasted ricotta cheese mixed in - delicious!

The view from mom's side of the table.

After lunch we walked up the staircase beside the cafe and continued walking up the steep streets to reach Sacre Coeur, a cathedral on the top of the hill.

The back of Sacré-Cœur Basilica.

The front of Sacre Coeur.
The terrace and stairs were covered in tourists and buskers.

Mom twisted her ankle while stepping off the curb outside the cathedral, but thankfully she was okay to continue walking after resting for a couple of minutes. Although I wish she could have avoided the pain of a twisted ankle (it was painful for several days), we were both glad it didn't happen sooner in our trip! After visiting the cathedral we made our way to a nearby square packed with artists displaying their paintings, cafes and gelato shops, and artists sketching tourists willing to pay exorbitant amounts of money for their likeness.


We gave in and chose an artist and got a good laugh out of the caricatures he drew of us.

My view of his squinting eyes. There were often more than ten people gathered around watching... a weird experience to be on display.

Me with a ridiculous version of me and the artist who has been drawing caricatures longer than he can remember.

Mom's drawing in progress.

A street-side crepe shop with the biggest jar of nutella I've ever seen (see the pop can next to it for size comparison).

A quaint little bakery.

Yummy treats in the bakery window.

We stumbled upon a movie set as we made our way down the hill back toward our hostel.

An interesting way to make a bit of extra cash selling roasted chestnuts.

Between our hostel and Montmartre was a rather large red-light district. We walked through the area quite quickly, crossing over the street to try to avoid the most seedy looking areas and people. Thankfully we were both so exhausted that I don't think we noticed half of the shops in the area.

We stopped at another street-side cafe for dinner, picked up our luggage from the hostel and returned to the station for our trip back to England, arriving in Basingstoke at 12:30 a.m.

The food in Paris was delicious - this was part of my final meal - a side salad with melon and prosciutto.

Mom and I are exhausted from about eight hours of walking every day, but it's great fun to think back over our time in Paris – the people we met, the delicious food we ate, and the incredible places we visited.