bowers en route: Sacre-Coeur

Wednesday, May 11, 2011: Paris

Sacre-Coeur was our first sight. Sacre-Coeur is one of the most beautiful churches in the city and is located on the top of Monmartre. Since it is an operating Catholic Church, it is free to the public.

To get there, we hopped on the metro. (A note that that the metro here is amazing. Paris has got it down.) We take the metro several stops. Per Louis’ planning, we get off a few stops early in order to explore the surrounding area of Monmartre. Since Sacre-Coeur is located at the highest point in the city, Louis plans for us to just keep walking uphill to get there.

Monmartre has a very bohemian feeling. There are a lot of street markets selling handmade jewelry, artists drawing people, artists drawing the scenery, stands serving gelato. It is all very picturesque. In our itinerary for Place de Tertre, Louis had written the notes: “Area of artists – don’t pay for anything; watch for thieves.” Very vigilant.

We roam around the area, and it is very hot. It feels like 85 degrees; we are walking uphill. The streets are pretty steep and the sun is glaring. There are many small shops and sidewalk cafes and local florists lining the streets. There are also many mouth-watering gelato shops.

When we arrive at the Sacre-Coeur, it is beautiful. It is known for being completely white. From the front facing out, there is an extensive view of Paris. Inside, the church is very grand. As we walk along the perimeter inside the church, there are many statues, paintings, and priests giving confession to parishioners (and probably some tourists).

The beautiful Sacre-Coeur Basilica.

View from the front of the church.

Requisite artistic shots.

As we leave, we walk randomly down the streets until we reach a metro stop. On the way, we get a gelato. I got limone and frambola (lime and strawberry in Italian) and Louis got some ice cream. It is heavenly on this hot day, and the start of my daily gelato addiction.

One more note about Monmartre. There is a red light district in the area, which we were lucky enough to see as we boarded the Metro. We didn’t walk through that area, but Louis mentioned next time we will.