Days 3 & 4 - The Sights of Paris

For the last couple of days we’ve been doing lots of touristy things, on Wednesday we went on the Mooch Boat (Bateaux-Mouches) for a trip down the Seine. You get to see pretty much all the main sights of Paris.

Here’s a photo of me on the boat just in case you doubted it.

Also for some reason as soon as you get on a boat everyone feels the need to wave to you, I’m trying to start the same thing with people on buses but it doesn’t seem to be catching on.

Then we went for a trip to the funniest named Metro Station in Paris, Invalides. Well, funny until you find out it’s named after a hospital for injured soldiers, then you just feel bad for laughing at it. But the Invalides building is pretty cool, it’s still a place any injured soldiers can come and live but it’s also the French War Museum, so we went for a wander round. I looked for the section of ‘Great French Military Victories’ but for some reason I couldn’t find it.

Next we crossed the river, stopping to take the standard “Couple standing on a bridge over the Seine with Eiffel Tower in the background” shot.

Walking through Paris we passed the Grand Palais and Petite Palais, (the photo is of the little one, because as the name suggests the Grand Palais was too big to get in shot). 

Then on to the Obelisk at Concorde and a series of churches, all of which despite being immense buildings the Parisians didn’t think important enough to mention in their guidebook or put on the map we’ve been using. 

At this point France decided to get its own back on me for my earlier ‘French Military Victories’ joke, and placed an upturned nail in the middle of the road which went straight through my shoe into my foot!

So after a slight detour to the Pharmacy, the plan was to head for the Sacre-Coeur. To get there you go through an area full of sex shops, which seems to me an odd thing to build around one of the biggest churches I’ve ever seen, but there you go. In the middle of all these, is also the Moulin Rouge.

As a side note, you know how in England when you’re crossing the road at some traffic lights the green man means the cars have to stop and it’s safe to cross. Well in Paris, not true, apparently the cars can go whenever they like and it’s your job to be on guard to dive out the way at the last second. 

So in summary; Red Man = Don’t Cross, Green Man = Probably best not to cross either. 

So after a climb of 225 stairs up the hill we made it to the Sacre-Coeur, I think this was my highlight of our trip so far, it has some amazingly intricate architecture but just the sheer scale of it is immense.

Another 330 steps up a stone spiral staircase, and out over the pitched roof climbing through the Gargoyles you get to the Dome. Walking around the balcony here you can see all across Paris. (Here's a video of the view)

As the sun began to set we turned back down the hill, and off towards the Arc-de-Triomphe , which we figured by this time would be all lit up. On the way back through Paris, we passed this shop. Points for whoever comes up with the best suggestion for what they’re talking about here.

You would think that the first store, right at the top of the Champs-Elysees, would be a pretty prestigous spot. From a distance you can see this sleek modern looking building with a laser show playing on the wall. Perhaps it's a posh department store, or some kind of high fashion brand.  But when you get up close it's even better, the worlds first (and to my knowledge only) 'Drugstore Steakhouse'.

So finally, after an 8 hour and 10 mile trek around what by this point felt like all of Paris and back again, we made it to the Arc-de-Triomphe. 

We were exhausted so decided to head home, but there was just enough time left for Becki to come out with the best comedy quote of the day:

Me: ‘The flame is the tomb of the unknown solider’

Becki: ‘Yeah, but who is he?’