A couple shorter walks

Another beautiful day in Paris!  This is yesterday's activity. It was just way too late last night to compose it! 

My friend Mike suggested a couple other places to visit, and fortunately they were much closer than my first day of walking! 

The Montmatre part of Paris is a rather steep hill about a mile from here. This is where the famous, or infamous, Moulin Rouge is located. 

During WWII it became famous for the fancy girl shows that the soldiers liked. Apparently some of the young ladies were a tad loose morally, which was another reason soldiers were attracted here. This feels like a rather sketchy part of town with a lot of sex shops about. I would have felt less comfortable visiting here after dark. BTW, I did not go in. May watch the movie someday instead. 

Up the hill from here is a much different attraction; the Sacre Coeur or Basillica of the Sacred Heart. 

Catholics have got it all over Protestants for architecture! Mass was going on but you could still enter and marvel at the statues and mosaics. Still, being a place of worship, there was a dress code for entry. 

Here are a few pictures from inside. 

The main sanctuary 

Incredible mosaic of Christ
Joan of Arc defeating the invaders who are portrayed as a leopard

Saint Peter

A nun singing beautifully

Outside the church was a plaza full of people. Being on top of a hill gives you a wide panoramic view of the city. You can understand why the people congregate here. 

Mike suggested the best time to be here for the view is after dark. I'll get to that later. 

Along with the beauty there is some tackiness to be found. 

This little tour train reminded me of the Conch Train in Key West, although in Key West it wouldn't look out of place. 

I was a bit hesitant to go back out to watch the sunset (another Key West similarity), but the reward seemed too attractive to ignore. Glad I went! 

A large crowd gathered on the steps of the Basillica to watch the evening's glory. We even had a musician providing entertainment! I guess people are the same all over the world! 

My plan was to head straight back to the hostel after my evening journey, but that didn't work quite as planned. The stairs (there were a lot of them!) that I had taken up were closed after dark. Probably for safety reasons since they were a bit uneven and unlit. Fortunately I was running Strava. After I realized that I was far off track I pulled up Strava and was able to see how totally turned around I was. 

Far left was where I had gone for sunset. Up high is where I had erroneously wandered far from my hostel!  Using my Strava map i was able to find my way home. 

Quite a day and a very late night. 

Today will be my last full day in Paris. I plan to do some more exploring via the metro today and save some shoe rubber. I'll report on that later.