April 3, 2025

 Well, good morning Paris! It’s 4:30 AM and I’ve decided to get up because I am finished sleeping. Richard also wakes up and our day has begun. We have tea and coffee and toast and fruit so that should see us through till noon anyways.

I have looked to see what we should do this morning and have decided that Notre Dame would be a good choice for us. It’s about a 2 km walk there and since we’re both young and strong, we decide that it’s no problem at all so if we go at about 8 AM I’ve made reservations for 930 so that gives us lots of time to even stop at a little patisserie for a chocolate almond croissant. It’s warm as it’s just been made and we share one. We’re not worrying too much about how much we’re eating because we’re walking so damn much that I’m sure it will be gone. We arrive at Notre Dame at about 905 and get into the reservation lineup and go right in. We rent the audio headphones to listen to the tour as we walk through this magnificent cathedral. I feel like it’s crowded right now, but man oh man it changes very quickly becomes very crowded. We tour inside for over two hours. It is such an aw inspiring work of architecture that it doesn’t matter where you look it’s unbelievable. It’s hard to believe that this was built somewhere in the 1200s but has been changed quite a few times in the interim. We end up paying to go in to see the relics and treasures. We are not disappointed. Wow!!



The city really makes you slow down and look around. No one appears to be in any rush despite the thousands of people wandering around the narrow sidewalks and cobble streets.

We stop and have some lunch at one of the mini cafés along the way and try to rest our weary legs.


At this point, we decide to go home to have a rest and decide what to do next. As we get closer to our accommodation, we see a huge lineup of young people waiting to get into the Rex. We’re right across the street from it and didn’t even realize that it is one of the top clubs in Europe and they’re having some sort of special day that people have come from all over to be involved in mainly students by the look of it.


By the time we get home, I am so tired. I fall fast asleep until 4 o’clock when Richard wakes me up and now it’s on to another adventure.

We decide that we may as well walk in the opposite direction another two or 3 km to see the beautiful cathedral at Sacre Coeur in Montmarte. Another breathtaking piece of architecture and art. But when I say breathtaking, what I mean is the walk all uphill to get into the building. We must’ve walked 300 steps to get up there. It was definitely worth the walk, though. We went through the cathedral to look at all of the works of art in there.



It was as we were coming down a narrow little street by the cathedral that I caught my first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower through the trees. And that takes your breath away too. We stop along the way for a beverage. I am just totally blown away by the number of restaurants everywhere you go within the crowded city. And everybody smokes and I mean everybody! The streets and planters are filled with cigarette butts, but it doesn’t seem to phase anybody. I’m sure they clean them up daily.


And because we’ve probably only walked 10 or 12 km so far I figure we may as well do a little side trip to go see the Moulin Rouge. We just walked by it. We didn’t actually go in or anything. By now we are extremely tired and it’s time to go home.

We stopped at a little Szechuan restaurant on our way back home and have something rather spicy. I must’ve been tired because I don’t usually order spicy. It feels like we’ve been here for two weeks and it’s only been our third day away from home. By now it is 10 PM and I’m serious, good night


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