Tuesday 17th September - Paris

Today we planned to do a walking tour around Mont Martre (starting at Moulin Rouge and finishing at Sacre Coeur) with Discover Walks. We had to buy some more metro tickets, and bought the RER passes for tomorrow's trip to Versailles at the same time. Onto the metro, 1 change, out in the open again, and the Moulin Rouge was across the road. We were a little early for the tour, so took a look around on the busy Boulevard de Clichy - frankly, we weren't impressed, it looked decidedly down market, and uncared for.

The guide showed up 10 minutes before start time, but as there was such a large group, another guide, Victor, was called. Victor was a charming young man, but counted the group left, and decided we needed yet another guide - he would meet us part way along the tour.

The minute we left the main boulevard, our outlook changed. The now quiet streets were lined with delightful eateries, and quality food shops - meat, fish, fruit and veggies, boulangeries etc. Mont Martre is now a very chic place to live, but it wasn't always. Originally it had been outside the city of Paris, and the poorer people, who could not afford the city taxes lived out here. But it has always been a place for entertainment, and letting your hair down!

Our second guide, Alexandre joined before too long. We went with his group, and he was great. He was older than Victor, and had lots of great local stories to tell. We walked through the back streets to Sacre Coeur, rather than the typical touristy way. He showed us different views to the church, and explained some local history, it's people and buildings. We have decided that the walking tours are a great way to get to know a new area. It was again a 'pay what you think is a fair thing' at the end of the tour. Mont Martre is, of course, known for its impressionist artists, especially Toulouse Lautrec. There are small art supply shops in out of the way streets, then close to Sacre Coeur there is a square with a restaurant in its centre that is surrounded by artists working. The 'draw while you pose' artists were doing a reasonable trade, but others were a bit 'multiples of the same thing' - very commercial.

We did go into the church after the tour finished, but did not stay long, although it was very tempting as it was lovely and warm inside, and very cold and windy out. We walked down the series of stairs to the bottom of the hill, then down one very touristy street to the main road, where we easily found the metro. We were only one station from the interchange station, so walked along the road for a block or two and caught the metro there instead.

Saint Chapelle was on the way back, so we got off the train at Cite - there are a lot of stairs at that stop! Unfortunately, Museum Passes don't let you jump the security queue, so it took 15 minutes to get through that, but we did jump through at the ticket office. Saint Chapelle was built between 1242 and 1248, and is famous for its stained glass windows, some of which are currently being repaired. We walked into a rather small church with beautiful gold and blue painted arches over its ceiling, and some nice stained glass windows - probably just that we have seen so many mega churches in the past few weeks, we didn't stay long.

Looking for the exit, people were heading to some stairs (if they lead to another tower, I was prepared to wait below while Errol took photos! ). But there were only a few stairs, and we walked out it to the real church, and ............. wow!!! Those windows we're amazing. There are 15 windows, and between them, they depict 1113 scenes, telling the story of mankind from Genesis to Christ's resurrection. Fourteen of the windows are tall (15.4 metres high and 4.25 metres wide), they fill the walls either side, and at the front of the church. These are still about 70% original 13th century glass. At the back, there is a huge round window which was installed in the 15th century (quite new by comparison really!!). There is a total of around 600 square meters of stained glass.

After Saint Chapelle, it was time to finally do our cruise on the Seine. Most of the landmark buildings and monuments we had already seen, but the view from the river gave a different perspective. Then it was back to the apartment to collapse and rest up for dinner, do blogging and check washing.

We had hoped to have a look around the St Germain Markets, but neither of us had the energy for it. For dinner, we went to Le Balto, just down the road (the restaurant that was closed last night). Errol's steak was good, but the beans were over cooked, and my duck only came with 'crispy potatoes' - glorified hash browns, we weren't overly impressed.

Home, post yesterday's blog, early night - so tired, I wonder why!?