Saturday, May 26, 2012

Montmarte and Les Halles


We (well I did) slept in a little later this morning. After breakfast we hopped on the Metro and headed up to the Montmarte area to see the Sacre Coeur (Sacred Heart) Basilica. When you head to any French town, city, or district that begins with “Mont”, you should not be shocked or surprised if you have to walk up hill for a bit. This is the case with Montmarte, but in exchange for a little bit of climbing you get great views.

Sacre Coeur

We took some pictures of the view of Paris, the people hanging out in front of the church and then visited the Sacre Coeur cathedral. It is pretty nice, but what makes this cathedral special is the exterior and the location. There are cathedrals in Paris that no one visits (like Saint Eusache) that are much more impressive than Sacre Coeur, even in its run down state.

Sacre Coeur

We walked around Montmarte and explored, stopping for lunch in a park, and a coffee in a restaurant. The crowd was about what you would expect in an artsy area on a beautiful Saturday, but it made it fun rather than a bother. It was kind of like being at a fair.

Montmarte

Montmarte - Ghost Town

We hopped back on the Metro to the Beaubourg/Les Halles district toured Saint Eusache cathedral, grabbed and headed over to the Pompidou Center. We didn't quite know what to expect, not sure if it was a commercial building or some sort of public display. We were quite pleased to find out that it was the “Pompidou Center – the National Museum of Contemporary and Modern Art”. To say that it was impressive would be quite an understatement.

Saint Eusache

Beaubourg/Les Halles

Pompidou Center

Pompidou Center

The Pompidou Center building itself is kind of fun. When you go to visit the museum you ride up in escalators that are in clear plastic tubes on the outside of the building. You get quite a view just riding up to the museum.





After several hours we headed home to the apartment exploring Les Halles on the way, had a homemade omelet and salad for supper, and called it an evening.

More photos on Picasa at this Link

Hope you are doing well,

Stephen & Linda

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