Paris at last
In the evening we found a walking tour to have a look at Montmartre, which was just a short way east of where we were staying. So we took the underground back to the crossroads at the bottom of Montmartre where the tour was scheduled to leave from.
We found ourselves right outside the Moulin Rouge, and easily located a group of students sorting people by language into parties for the tour. Our leader turned out to be a New Zealand girl.
We strolled around the streets, visiting various places of interest, including the café where Picasso had spent a lot of time during his student days in Paris:
We also walked past the fruit and vegetable shop which features in the film "Amelie", which was then recently released.
This was in the busy market area immediately around the Moulin Rouge, and still in the lower part of Montmartre.
However, we soon climbed to the top of the hill and found ourselves in the Place du Tertre, full of artists and their work for sale, with people having their portraits painted and copies of many famous paintings on display.
But the highlight of the tour, and of our visit to Montmartre, was the floodlit church at the top of the hill, Sacre Coeur.
We were able to view the building from several sides, and poked our heads inside very briefly to see the religious activity going on.
Then we fell in with a pleasant couple from Alice Springs and chatted with them over coffee for an hour or so, comparing notes on our travels.
We were hungry by this time so we walked along the main boulevard at the bottom of the hill to the east into a less salubrious area, until we came to an inviting Kebab shop where we found a welcome pizza for supper!
The metro was nearby and we had no trouble finding our way home on the next train.
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