Back again , travelled from Lyon to Paris via another fast train - air conditioned fortunately , as the weather hasn't backed off yet , and doesn't look like it . Arriving in Paris , we made our way to the Metro to go to our accomodation . We got off the Metro and out onto the streets and found we were smack bang in the middle of a West African section . They gave us curious looks as we made our way to the apartment, more cultures merged with us and turned into a more cosmopolitan setting . Shopping for food was easy , there was a small supermarket just across the road from us , along with many bars & restaurants.
Next day we decided to limit ourselves to morning or evening activities , as the weather was getting to between 38 and 42 for the duration of our stay . So decision was made to go to the Sacre Coure Basilica , which was only a walk away - no other transport involved . We are staying in a hilly suburb of Paris as can be seen in this photo .
To get to the Basilica , we had to go about 400m then turn right and go to the end of the street - that's when we found the first lot of stairs to climb - yes that's them in between the buildings !!
Here's the view back down them
At the top of the stairs was a child care centre .
Our first view of the Basilica , impressive !
No money in religion is there ???
A wrought iron fence kept people from falling into the lower floors of the basilica .
And the locals always seem to have a hotel , bar , or in this case an Irish Pub beside the basilica .
The front of the basilica is rather large as well .
This is one of the fences down the front at the basilica - padlocks hanging off it everywhere - it's a wonder the fence is still standing with all that extra weight !!
There are views over Paris from the front .
Inside the basilica was very ornate , with queues of people streaming in . The large dome at the front and a lot of other images around the inside are actually made of mosaic tiles no bigger than a 5 cent coin - a lot of work involved in that !!
Another good money spinner were these candles and other smaller ones - these were 30 Euro's each - these were the ones that have to be removed from the stands , so new candles can be placed .
We looked around and left before the crowds got too big , finding a different way back , we found the walkway covered in grape vines and about 10 degrees cooler than being out in the sunshine .
As we came up all those stairs coming here , we had to go back down the hill . Google assisted ,finding an alternate route back to the apartment - yes more stairs !
And at the bottom of those stairs we found apartment buildings everywhere lining the streets & avenues .
Then some more steps .
There was a mural on the side of one apartment on the way down the steps - looks like the render is falling off and some mystical creature is emerging .
The view back up the stairs
We headed back to the apartment and it's air conditioning - it wasn't turned off at any time during our stay in Paris !! Later that evening we went out for a walk , just to get out - it was still 34 degrees at 9:30pm !!
Found another mural while we were out .
And that was it for our day , too hot to do much , so we limited our searching and just did a few things .
I'll do a map on the last day of Paris .
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