Les Vacances: Day 5 and 4 miles of walking--Montmartre & Sacre Coeur

It was rather hot yesterday and perhaps not the best day to tackle Montmartre but we let our urge to go and a pretty day overwhelm our judgement and boarded the RER from Cité Universitaire about 2:30. Unlike Caltrain and Muni, the RER and Metro are not air-conditioned so on a warm day, it's pretty toasty and humid in transit even with the open windows. We disembarked at du Gare Nord and made our way through an underground mall which also serves as a passageway to a Metro transfer point. The mall was a mass of humanity mixing shoppers with those in transit. Ever alert for pickpockets, we focused on finding the Metro line 2 at La Chappelle, Signage is good but it takes concentration to get the right set of stairs to ensure one is on the correct side of the correct platform. We asked for assistance twice (Metro deux, s'il vous plaît?) and received a terse wave of the hand indicating the general direction. Two stops later we disembarked at Anvers, climbed the stairs and were greeted by the hot sun and the crush of a crowd that would make Pier 39 proud. It quickly became apparent to us that pursuing the Rick Steve's 2 hour walk would not be enjoyable given the temperature and the crowd. Instead we settled for a ride on the funicular and a walk through the church.

The small streets of Montmartre that lead to Sacre Coeur are lined with souvenir shops reminiscent of Fisherman's Wharf. Clearly this would be fertile territory for Oliver Twist and his counterparts. Though we escaped with our valuables intact, I did witness the local police interrogating and conducting a rather invasive body search on a teenage girl whom we suspect was being detained for wallet assault or shoplifting. Her calm demeanor led me to believe she had been through this routine dozens of times and that she had already handed off the pilfered bounty.

After a short ride on the funicular which spared us climbing some 200 steps, we climbed about 30 steps to reach the entrance to the church. No pictures are permitted inside of the church out of respect for those there for worship rather than sightseeing. Votives of many different sizes were available for 2 - 10 euro. There were also vending machines that dispensed lucite medallions for those interested in a Sacre Coeur momento.

The church was quite beautiful inside and out and well worth the trip to Montmartre.
--John

P.S. Cat count: 1 calico; trip total: 6 (bonus points for calicos)