Day 4 - Montmarte

Church start time was 9:30 but thank goodness we got there early, at 9:00, because the people kept coming and coming...and coming! Soon there were absolutely no seats left and people had to sit in the parking lot. It was chilly but thank goodness it wasn't raining! The sacrament took over half an hour to pass!  David didn't recognize anyone in the ward but it has been about 25 years.

After church we wandered over to the Pompidou Centre.

We also stopped at a waffle restaurant to get some breakfast for Lenae and Josh.

I held out on the waffles because all I could think about was yummy pastries! Had to get two that morning! My new favorite is one with apricots...so delicious!

We headed back to the hotel to change and for a quick 1/2 hour rest because my right knee had started hurting after climbing all those stairs at the Notre Dame towers the day before. After our recharge, we were off on the metro to our next stop - Montmarte!

Montmarte is primarily known for its artistic history and as a nightclub district. When we got off the metro, we found ourselves surrounded by tons of other tourists, tourist shops, artists sketching portraits of people, bars, kebab shops, and even some street hustlers. One even tried to rope David into playing his game, offering him 100 euros just to enter the game.

But we kept our sights on where we wanted to go - the white-domed Basilica of the Sacre-Coeur at the top of the hill. This landmark was built in the 19th century by the French government following the Franco-Prussian War.  Authorised by the National Assemby in 1873, the project was to build an imposing Christian church that would be visible from all over Paris. And it is!

A picture for Joyce.

The basilica is located at the summit of the hill in Montmarte so we had some hiking to do.

We passed some beautiful flowers on the way up.

Such a beautiful view and we weren't even at the top yet.

Sacre Coeur is built of travertine stone that was quarried in Chateau-Landon. The stone exudes calcite on contact with rainwater, making it white.

The gable among the main entrance.

The portico is adorned by two equestrian statues of French national saints, one of them being King Saint Louis IX.

After our hike to the top, we were ready for a rest so we hung out on the front stairs for awhile talking.

And took a few pictures as well.

When the rain started up we decided it was time to head inside the church. I took a bunch of pictures inside the church and it is only now, as I've done a bit of research on the church, that I've come across the fact that the use of cameras and video cameras is not allowed in the basilica. Oops! In my defense, I didn't see any signs stating this and I definitely wasn't the only one taking pictures.
This first picture shows the Mosaic of Christ in Glory, one of the largest mosaics in the world. It represents the risen Christ, clothed in white and with arms extended, revealing a golden heart. Surrounding him are those who adore him, including the Saints who protect France.

The candles one can buy to light for those you love and/or who are in need of special blessings.

St. Peter statue.

And Joan of Arc.

After our tour inside, we decided to climb all those stairs (just over 300) to the basilica's dome.

Hello, cool gargoyle water spout!

Feelin' the love!

Walking around the dome was super cool...

And the views of Paris were spectacular!

Some kind of dance thing was going on below.

The La Savoyarde bell in the tower is the largest in France and it put on quite a beautiful show for us while we were up there.

I was just in love with all the details - the carvings...

and the statues.

After roaming around there for awhile we decided to head back down and, while walking back down the many, many steps, we were able to hear the organ inside playing. Despite the heavenly noise leading us down, Josh almost didn't make it.

And my feet were definitely sore and I might have even had a little boo boo.

We got some more stunning photos of the church as we walked around outside. I'm always up for more gargoyles!

The bell tower.

Right next to Sacre Coeur we found this beautiful old church, Saint-Pierre de Montmarte. It is one of the oldest surviving churches in Paris and is the location at which the vows were taken that led to the founding of the Society of Jesus.

For the next little while we just wanted the streets, checking out all the little shops, taking pictures, avoiding artists clamoring to draw us, and soaking in the ambiance of this part of Paris.

Had to grab another picture for Joyce, ha ha!

This was a real guy! It was amazing to see this human statue; he did NOT move!!

Ugh! More stairs! But David was quick to point out that there are several identical sets of these stairs and in one of the Jason Bourne movie, Bourne rode his motorcycle down them. I guess that was supposed to get me excited about walking down more stairs.

A commemorative plaque to the innocent children deported to the death camps under the Vichy government during WWII.

The school where those innocent Jewish children were taken from.

We found a nice little corner restaurant to have dinner and after much thought and a recommendation from our fabulous waiter, I went with the cheeseburger. So American, right? But it ended up being super tasty and the waiter had said it was a favorite choice. But the best thing was the dessert - a strawberry tart with custard! Not that gross cream filling that Americans think goes best with tarts but super delicious custard! It was amazing!

And of course it was at this meal that we discovered the super gross, days old banana leaking squishy goodness all over the inside of our backback.

Seriously, our waiter was the best! And the couple from Australia sitting next to us were pretty funny as well. Overall it was just a fabulous dinner with our sweet friends.

It had started pouring right as we got to the restaurant and it was still raining buckets as we left.

The first day we were in Paris riding the metro, David had pointed out a stop to me, Pigalle, telling me that it was the red light district. Guess where we headed next? I was super embarrassed getting off at that stop but I really wanted to get a picture of the Moulin Rouge. David had said it would be right there when we got off the metro but of course it wasn't; we had to walk about two blocks in the cold and rain, surrounded by less than savory stores and theaters. I just kept my eyes down the whole time we were walking to it, which was made a little easier because it was pouring rain, and grabbed my shots.

The Moulin Rouge is best known as the spiritual birthplace of the modern form of the can-can dance.

Back to the hotel we went. We were all tired and sick of walking around in the rain and we knew that the next day was going to be a long one. It was so nice to get back to the hotel and take a hot shower and relax; we even got to watch the Jazz playoff game!