How to ride the Metro

I have spent all day trying find out how to pay and ride the Metro. I just need to get to Gare de Lyon from Gare de Nord. Those are train stations and Gare de Lyon is where my train for Zurich leaves from tomorrow. Not understanding French or the train system turns out to be quite a hindrance. I have never felt so foreign in my whole life! 

A wonderful staff member here at the hostel, Eric, offered to come to the metro station and help me out. God bless Eric!  I've been running around for hours trying to figure this out. 

I needed to buy a Navigo card, €2, and add a €2.50 ticket to it. I can recharge the card when I return to Paris for my flight home. Using metro will be much cheaper than my taxi ride here. 

Complicating things on this trip is that the phone I bought to use with a European Sim card is defective and cannot find a celluar signal. 🫩  I was really counting on it. I'll return for a refund when I get home. Sigh. Life is an adventure. 

While walking about the local area, I found the Church of Saint-Laurent. Years of grime on the exterior but pretty on the inside. 

Joan of Arc

I will have to read what happened to him

And i saw the smallest Mercedes Benz I've ever seen! They don't sell this one in the states. 

All this running around has really wore me out. I think I'm going to take the rest of the day off. 

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. 

Walking in the City of Lights

BTW, Paris isn't called the City of Lights because of the lights. It is a reference to all the brilliant minds that came from Paris. Many of them are inscribed on the Eiffel Tower. 

I had a rough night sleeping, but I did get enough in that I was feeling much better today. The weather is great today so it was time to get some walking in. 

I talked with the folks at the front desk and they suggested i start out by the train station on Rue St Michael and stay on it till I got to the Seine River and Nortre-Dame. Good idea. 

From there i could follow the Seine to the Eiffel Tower and have a more scenic walk than zig  zagging through the city. 

That worked for me! 

All along the way I was thinking of the 2024 Olympics and the parade of nations in boats on the river, and also the poor competitors that had to swim in it. It definitely isn't comparable to a pool and I would be very hesitant to swim in it, let alone swallow some of it, myself. Turns out they had to use the river because the swimming complex wasn't finished yet. 

Right beside the Seine is the Louvre museum. I had decided already that i wanted to see it but wasn't really interested in going in. It is HUGE and it would take days to do it justice. 

I continued on along the river and enjoyed seeing the boats, othr people sightseeing or jogging, and more of the architecture. 

Finally, after more than 7 miles, I arrived at the Eiffel Tower. I think it is a replica of the one in Las Vegas. 😄  I had no idea of how massive and tall it was! All the steel work that went into it is amazing. It sort of reminds me of a giant Erector set. Pictures cannot do it justice, but here I am! 

I didn't want to retrace my steps so I veered toward the city center hoping to find something to eat. 

I decided on a Nutella and coconut crepe paired with a Coca Cola. Not high class, but that's just my style. 

There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to the street layout in Paris. Several times I took what I thought was the correct turn only to have to go back to an intersection and try again. But I had no specific schedule or route so that was no problem. 

My erratic route treated me to a number of extra interesting sights. That can be a side benefit of not knowing exactly where you are going! 

A very small Renault

Random intersection

A wooden, but functional, bike, aside from the flat tire

As it turns out traffic lanes and pedestrian walk signs are all merely a suggestion here. Horns are also a frequently used tool of communication. I thought Puerto Rico traffic was bad but it can't hold a candle to Paris. 

After 13.52 miles of walking i made it back to my hostel, texted with Susan, and got the blog together. 

Here's some random pictures to enjoy. 

My route

I think we saw this show  on Netflix. 😁

More boats on the Seine

They have KFC as well

Yes, you really can take a leak along the streets of Paris. The other side is a proper sit down toilette.

Cheese vending along the Rue St Michel

One more view of Notre-Dame

Not the Arch de Triumph, but I walked through anyway. 

The American Church of Paris

A little free library. Only 2 books in it. 

Ping pong in the park

And here's the park. 

Thanks for following along with me! See you tomorrow.