Lynn – Page 13 – Lynn's Travel Adventures

Beautiful Day in Torino

It turned out to be a very nice day. Rain is still forecasted but not until much later this evening.

We started the day at the Egyptian Museum just a few minutes walk from Gelato Pepino.

Statue of Isis. The ancient Egyptians worshiped cats.

The color on the tiles was amazing considering how old they are.

The museum has one of the world’s most significant papyrus collections. with nearly 700 whole or reassembled manuscripts and over 17,000 papyrus fragments. The one below is one small section of a very long death story.

The picture on the top right: The person who died wants to be reincarnated as a falcon and the cow with the double ostrich plume is the heavenly goddess of creation. These were so cool and in remarkable condition.

In the early 20th century, an Italian archeologist went on an Egyptian dig to look for more artifacts. Here’s one of the cameras he used to document their work.

How would you like to drag this around on vacation.

Funeral figures found in many of the graves.

After finishing at the museum, we walked about 10 minutes back to Piazza Castello and headed to the Royal Palace. I know I said we wouldn’t be going to another palace, castle, chateau or church for a while but that was before we decided to come to Italy. So…here’s the next palace.

The Royal Palace of Torino was the home of the Savoy family who ruled much of Italy for many years. In case you didn’t know, Italy was only unified as a country in 1861. Prior to that, it was made up of kingdoms ruled by the most powerful house in the kingdom. One of the most famous is the di’Medici family in Florence. The House of Savoy ruled the Piedmont (far northwest) and Sardinia areas. Upon unification, the country was ruled by a King until it became a republic after the war.

Peter with an elephant in front of the Royal Palace.

Six years ago there was a statue of a bull in this exact spot.

Sept 30, 2016…almost exactly 6 years to the day. He had a few extra pounds on him back then.

The front of the palace was covered in scaffolding so there wasn’t much to take a picture of but here’s a shot from the garden.

One of the wings of the palace from the garden.

The palace was originally built in mid-16th century and modernized about a century later.

The armory was modeled after Versailles outside of Paris.

In one of the rooms, a restorer was doing work on the wall panels. It was pretty cool to watch her work.

The Shroud of Turin has been housed in the Royal Chapel since the mid-15th century. Once believed to be the shroud used to wrap Jesus after the crucifixion, carbon dating in 1988 shows the cloth is from the Middle Ages.

The image on the right is the product of digital filters being added to the image.

The Holy Shroud is kept in this box on the High Altar. It’s only taken out on certain occasions.

The chapel dome was amazing.

Next we planned to visit the Cathedral but by the time we got down there it was 1230 which is when the building closed for riposo. In Italy virtually everything, except bars and restaurants, shuts down for from about 1-3pm and sometimes even longer. The Cathedral wasn’t opening again until 4pm so this is the only photo we were able to get.

The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist is in the front and the dome of the Royal Chapel is in the background.

So instead of visiting the Cathedral, we headed around the corner to Pizzium for lunch. According to TripAdvisor, it has the best pizza in Torino. Northern Italy is not known for pasta or pizza, but lunch was pretty good.

And the lasagna?? This was pesto lasagna and while Peter likes his with Bolognese better, he said it was still very good.

I could tell Peter was getting tired, so after lunch we headed back to the tram. We got home early but that gave me a chance to do a quick load of laundry. There’s no dryer but the sun is on the balcony so, hopefully, everything will dry before it rains later this evening.

We enjoyed our short time in Torino but 1 1/2 days is plenty. We were only here for a half day in 2018 but we were able to walk a little farther than we did this time. Here are a couple of other pictures from that trip.

One cool building in Torino is the Mole Antonelliana, which for a time, was the tallest masonry building in the world. It now houses the Museum of Cinema. We didn’t get that far this year but saw it in 2016. It’s in the middle of the block and is so tall that it’s almost impossible to get it in a picture. Here’s one I found on pixabay.

Beautiful sunset picture of Torino showing how much taller Mole Antonelliana is than the rest of the city. The Italian Alps are in the background.

Tomorrow we head about 90 minutes east to Milano. We spent 4 days there in 2016 but since that was the way we had to go to get to our next stop in France (weird to have to drive east to end up north but there are only so many ways through the mountains), so we decided to spend the day. We saw the Milan Cathedral from the outside in 2016, but never made it inside. We hope to do that tomorrow so be ready for more pictures of stained glass windows. Fair Warning!

Back in Our Beloved Italy

But before I get into that, have you seen what’s happened to the UK Pound?? It’s totally tanked, dropping to less than 1:1 against the dollar. OMG! Can we go back and redo the first 8 weeks of this trip. We’d save about $2000-$3000. When I was in the UK in 2002, it was 2:1 pound to dollar. Oh, how times have changed.

We had an uneventful drive from Mougins to Torino (if you don’t count all the construction slow downs), veering from the beautiful Mediterranean coast into the foot of the Italian Alps. We arrived in Torino early afternoon and got into our flat without difficulty. Then it was a 30-minute tram ride into the city center. We’re a little farther out than I like to be but we have a very nice, large flat with free parking and it’s right around the corner from the tram so I guess it evens out.

Have no idea what this building is but it looks very stately.

Dead dude on a horse in the same piazza.

We were hungry as we skipped lunch but by this time it was just after 4pm which means no restaurants are open. In most of Italy, restaurants will be open for lunch until about 3pm then close until dinner at 7-8pm. So we knew we couldn’t get real food but thought we might get an adult beverage and a snack. Well, we found Gelato Pepino. Founded in 1884, it’s one of the longest lived ice cream parlors, not just in Italy but in all of Europe.

My drink was a frozen margarita with lemon ice cream and Peter’s was a mimosa with orange ice cream. They were so good. Yes, I had massive order envy when I saw Peter’s snack. My fruit pie was very good, but his gelato was seriously delicious. We may have to go back tomorrow.

Italy isn’t known for its pastries but these looked pretty good

After our snack it was a quick stop at the grocery store then back to the tram for the ride home.

Palazzo Carignagno; this was in the same piazza as Gelato Pepino.

Everything here is so familiar….the dirty streets, the graffiti, the cigarette smoke….it’s just like every other city in Italy. We love it!! Ok, I could do without the cigarette smoke but it’s great to be back. I was able to go into the Tobacco shop to buy our tram tickets and understand what the clerk said back to me. My Italian is on the level of a 2nd grader, but I can make myself understood, which is more than I can do in French.

Tomorrow we’ll go back to city center to see what kind of trouble we can get into. Hopefully the rain will hold off. Night everyone.

Driving the Coast

Today was a very low key day. We slept late, had a lovely breakfast, then headed to the town of Frejus, about 40 minutes west of here. Frejus Beach is one of the places the Americans landed on Aug 15, 1944. So, of course, we had to visit and Peter had to get in the surf. Except it was a little cloudy, a little cooler and the wind was gusting like crazy, up to 30 MPH. So, he decided walking on the beach was enough.

We also saw the monument to the men who died in the 1st Indochina War from 1946-1954.

We took a short stroll down the boardwalk, trying to stay upright in the gusting wind. Once back at the car, we decided to drive the coast back to Cannes and it was a gorgeous drive. The clouds had cleared so it was a beautiful sunny day.

The road was filled with switchbacks and there weren’t many places to stop, but we found a few.

It took twice as long to get home as it would have if we’d taken the freeway but we had nothing special to do here and it was well worth the extra time.

Today’s pastry picture. We didn’t have any of these but they sure look delicious.

We’ve had a change to our itinerary. Originally, we were leaving tomorrow and heading west to catch the southwestern part of France and Andorra before heading up with western coast. Well, Peter has decided that he wants to go the other way instead. So, tomorrow we leave for Turino Italy where we’ll spend two nights. We were there in 2016 but only for an afternoon and Peter doesn’t even remember being there. So, this time we’ll take a little more time to explore the city. It will also give us a chance to practice our Italian, which is much better than our French, which of course, is practically non-existent.

We’re only about 30 miles from the Italian border and it’s pretty much straight freeway so it should be a pretty easy drive; at least I hope so. I’ll let you know.

Cote d’Azur

Literally it means Coast of Blue but it is more commonly referred to as the French Riviera. We arrived on Saturday, which was one of our few rainy days. But even though it rained while we drove (5 1/2 hours) it seemed to stop every time we got out of the car.

We only made one stop on our way from Lyon at the Rhone American Cemetery in Draguignan (sorry….got nothing for pronunciation). It’s a small cemetery but very beautiful. The men buried here are the ones from the invasion of southern France in August 1944.

The names on the wall are of the men who are MIA.

The banner on the flowers says “Forever Young”.

After a stop at the grocery store, we headed to our resort in Mougins (pronounced Moo-een; accent on 2nd syllable). We used Hilton Grand Vacation points to stay and it’s quite nice, about 20 minutes north of Cannes. We’re in a ground floor flat and we have a king bed. We haven’t had a large bed in forever so we’re loving the extra space.

Dessert from Friday night. Peter’s was the chocolate and mine was pistachio. They were so good you just wanted to cry with joy.

On Saturday night we transported back to the dark ages….the time before the internet! Our UK SIM cards expired (stores do not open until Monday morning) and the WiFi in the resort wasn’t working. Actually, it’s the entire area not just our resort. You don’t realize how much you use the internet until you don’t have it. Luckily, the SatNav in the car works so we’ve been able to get where we need to go in the car.

Yesterday (Sunday), we drove to Nice. Our plan was to visit a museum that has prehistoric stuff in it but we never found it. But, we did find the port so we spent an enjoyable 3 or so hours hanging out there.

One of the two beaches we saw. Should come as no surprise that we didn’t go down there.

At one time we planned to take the ferry from Nice to Corsica but changed our mind. If we had gone, this was the exact one we would have been on as it was the day we planned to go.

This sucker was gigantic. It was pretty cool to see it turn around and back into the dock.

After Nice, we headed into Cannes but not much was open and I parked in the only spot in the city that had outrageously expensive parking ($7/hour) so we didn’t stay long. Instead we came home and spent an hour or so at the pool.

Today (Monday) we went back to Cannes and found a better garage to park ($6.30 for 4 hours). Our first stop was the Orange store to get new SIM cards. So, we’re finally connected.

After that chore was done, we walked down to the beach for a leisurely stroll down the promenade.

This is the building where they hold the Cannes Film Festival every May. The red carpet is a permanent fixture.

They have their own walk of fame. Or maybe handprint of fame is better.

Feet in the Mediterranean Sea. It was pretty cold.

We stopped for very expensive coffee and Fanta orange here. It was a nice spot to rest for awhile while we enjoyed our $20 drinks.

Inside of the restaurant where we had our drinks. It was pretty cool.

After walking a little more, we stopped for lunch. It had been a whole week since I had pizza so this one was a Parma and Peter switched it up with Penne Bolognese.

Along our walk we saw lots of real estate offices. These places aren’t cheap.

This was just one…about 355 sq feet 2BR 1 BA for almost $400,000. Yesterday we saw one in Nice that was about 500 sq ft for $1,050,000 but it was on the top floor with a view of the sea and a large terrace.

After lunch we had a long walk back to the car so Peter was getting pretty tired. When we got home, I dropped him off at the pool while I did laundry at the paid machines at the resort. The washers are small but the dryer is huge so I was able to get both loads into one drying cycle.

A church in Cannes we saw but didn’t go into.

The resort internet is still out but I have my computer tethered to the phone. That means I can do the blog from the computer which is much easier than doing it from the phone.

Tomorrow we’re going to one of the beaches where the Allies landed in Aug 44 after which we’ll head to Antibes where Peter found a fort he wants to visit. Hope everyone had a great weekend and we’ll chat again soon.

Lyon – A UNESCO World Heritage City

Our flat is a little further out of Lyon than I thought so it took about 40 minutes for us to get into the city. But, we’re only a short walk from the tram so it wasn’t really too bad.

Our flat is on the top floor but in the back where the roof is steeply pitched. We should have brought a crash helmet with us.

Once we got into the city, it was a 10-minute walk to the river for a cruise but on the way we passed an amazing market. It was about 2 blocks long and contained stalls for just about any food you could want. I had to practically drag Peter away from there.

While walking through the market we also had a beautiful view of the Basilica.

The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourviere.

This was as close as we got. We’ve reached our saturation point on anything that resembles a church so trying to get up that hill to see the inside was a non-starter.

Lyon has two rivers, the Soane and the Rhone, the latter of which is the longest river in France. You know how we love our river cruises, so we enjoyed another one today that took us to both rivers.

The Cathedral of Sainte Jean Baptiste from the River Soane.

Part of the original city fortification.

The green building is also called the pencil sharpener building.

Thought I’d start hiding the daily pastry pic. These were 6″ cakes and they look amazing.

Once the cruise was over, we headed across the river to wander the streets of the Vieux Lyon, the medieval part of town. It was filled with shops, restaurants and bars. We had eaten our sandwiches on the river cruise but we wanted to find something sweet. We found glace and sorbet…very good.

Peter enjoying his coffee in the square.

Just as we got to this little corner, the clock struck 12:30pm.

During our wandering, we stumbled into the front of the Cathedral and Peter made me go in. It is quite old, finished in 1476 but built on the ruins of a 6th century church.

The sun was glaring on the screen so I didn’t realize how crooked this was…sorry.

This astronomical clock is a unique feature of this church.

This is the last cathedral pic for a while…promise.

On our way back to the Metro we found this large fountain in the middle of a square.

Tomorrow we’re off to the Riviera to stay at Le Club Mougins just north of Cannes, of the Cannes Film Festival fame. It’s about a 4 hour drive but, depending on weather, we may stop along the way to break up the ride. Thanks for traveling with us.

Is it a Castle or is it a Chateau?

While this may look just like the castles we saw in England and Scotland, it’s actually the Chateau de Vaux-le-Vicomte.

We moved from the land of castles in the UK to the land of chateaux in France. Before you panic and reach for the “close this blog” button, this is only one of two chateaux we plan to visit. The other won’t be for at least 10 days so this will be it for awhile.

But first, we had a great time last night with out friends Romain and Charmine. They live in the suburbs of Paris and came in after Romain finished work to have dinner with us. It was a wonderful evening and it was terrific to see them again.

We loved our 5 days in Paris and especially enjoyed our vibrant neighborhood. If our travels ever take us back to Paris, we’d stay in that area again.

Evening in Paris enjoying the sidewalk café.

We had a rocky start to the day when our driver, who was supposed to take us to Europcar to pick up our rental, instead dropped us off at the departure terminal. I tried to explain what we needed and he kept smiling and nodding, but the language barrier got in the way. The good news is that we had a luggage carrier and we were in the right terminal, just on the wrong end of it. After about a 15 minute walk, we finally got our car.

On the way to Lyon, we stopped at the 17th century Chateau de Vaux-le-Vicomte. We saw it on a Rick Steves episode and it looked interesting, and since it was on our way, we thought why not. It had been a whole week since we’d been in a castle and we were starting to go into withdrawal.

This was a super high domed ceiling in the large reception room. Unlike the rest of the ceilings, it was monochromatic rather than brightly colored.

Back of the Chateau. For an additional 3 euro you could climb the stairs to the cupola at the time of the dome. It should come as no surprise that we didn’t do that.

We ate our lunch in the garden before starting the 4-hour drive to Lyon. We’re in an Airbnb flat just outside the city center but it is on the 2nd floor with no lift!! This would be the 3rd floor in the U.S. as we start counting from 1 on the bottom. In Europe the bottom is the ground floor, then 1 and 2. I’m not sure how I missed this as I’m usually pretty careful but this time it got passed me. Peter made it up the stairs ok and since we’re only here for 2 nights I guess it’s not the end of the world. We’ll just go slow.

Not much else happening except for yet another load of laundry tonight. Tomorrow we’ll explore Lyon.

Day Trip to Chartes

We left too early this morning to make a trip to the boulangerie, but I don’t want to disappoint those of you waiting for today’s pastry pic. Last night (Tuesday) Peter and I took his walker on a test drive to Mamie and had a little dessert, like the Pane Chocolat for breakfast and the chocolate cake/ice cream for lunch wasn’t enough sugar for one day. But we wanted to hit the trifecta so our after dinner sweet was cheesecake with berry topping. We split it, though, so that makes it alright, doesn’t it?

This morning we took the Metro to the Gare Montparnasse to catch the 9:00 train to Chartres (pronounced Shart). The metro was an experience as we had to change trains and walk up/down about a zillion steps but we finally made it. Experience #2 was finding where the tracks were in this gigantic train station. We finally found a guard, and while he didn’t speak English, we were able to use enough sign language to let him know what we needed. After finding the train, it was an uneventful trip about 50 miles southwest of Paris.

Chartres is most famous for its Cathedral, which is officially titled Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres. It was mainly constructed between 1194 and 1220 and has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Around the outside of the high altar area were magnificent carvings, about 50 in total.

The statue of Mary and the infant Christ, called Our Lady of the Pillar.

There are 167 stained glass windows in the Cathedral.

One of three magnificent rose windows. This one is from 1230.

For you history buffs, the cathedral was almost destroyed in August of 1944 because the Allies thought the steeples and towers were being used as observation posts by the Germans. But unlike the monastery at Montecasino in Italy which was totally destroyed for the same reason (except there were no Germans), wiser heads prevailed. An American colonel went to the Cathedral to check it out and, when he realized it was empty, rang the Cathedral bells as a signal for the Americans not to fire. As a result, the bombardment was cancelled, and the Cathedral was saved. A sad postscript, the colonel was killed in action later that same day. He was posthumously decorated with the War Cross, the Legion of Honour and the National Order of Merit by the French government.

Cathedral at night; too bad we’re not going to see this. It’s beautiful.

There really isn’t that much to do in Chartres, at least according to the woman at the tourist info office. But we did finish at the Cathedral just in time for the last Petite Train run until mid-afternoon. It took us all through the town allowing us to see spots we wouldn’t have otherwise seen do to the hills and cobblestone streets.

The 16th century buildings in the background were originally washhouses.

After the 35-minute train ride, we headed to a local restaurant for a delicious lunch.

My ham, cheese, mushroom and egg galette, which is a savory (versus sweet) crepe.

As our blood sugar levels were still pretty high from yesterday’s overload, we passed on dessert and headed back to the train station.

A monument dedicated to soldiers lost in the Franco Prussian war of 1870.

A few old buildings across the street from the Cathedral.

Once back in Paris, we planned to take a bus home but couldn’t find the right one so we finally gave up and jumped in a cab. Now we’re resting as we have a late night dinner with friends who live just outside of Paris. We met Romain and Charline this summer when they were visiting Jim and Kathy, our friends at the Ranch. It will be wonderful to see them again.

Tomorrow we back at the airport to pick up car #3 for our month of traveling through France. As much as we love the cool vibe of our neighborhood, we’re looking forward to getting out of the bustling city and into the countryside. The next two nights we’re in Lyon. Not exactly the country but our flat is out of town so it should be a bit quieter. Have a great evening everyone.

Friends from the Ranch

Let’s get this out of the way….here’s today’s boulangerie picture.

She had the same sweets as yesterday but here are some of the bread offerings. We had a Pane Chocolate (large bun on the far right) and it was pretty incredible.

After we got our sugar level up with our breakfast chocolate, we walked to the Metro for a ride to Sainte Chapelle. It was an easy 7-8 minute walk and only 2 flights of stairs to descend. Unfortunately, the Metro system is not very accessible so most of the time there are lots of stairs to deal with.

We only had about 4-5 stops before getting off and heading to the Chapel. On the way, we caught our first glimpse of the Seine River (at least on this trip).

Again, not sure what the building is, but it looks like a castle, and believe me, after the UK I know what a castle looks like.

It was just a few more blocks to get to Sainte Chapelle.

It is currently surrounded by scaffolding so this is a picture from its Wiki page.

It was built in the mid-13th century by Saint Louis to house the Holy Crown of Thorns, pieces of the True Cross as well as other relics from the Passion. These now rest in the large shrine on the 2nd floor of the chapel.

For an 360 degree look at the chapel, here’s a short video.

This is where the shrine is supposed to be but I’m not sure it’s actually there. The space looks pretty empty.

In the bottom level of the Chapel. Like my newly coiffed hair??

We only spent about 30 minutes in the chapel before heading toward the Eiffel tower for lunch. Our friends from the Ranch, Joe and Janet, are in Paris on a tour and we met them and their friends, for lunch.

I asked Peter not too long ago if he misses our house and he said absolutely not. But, we both miss our friends from the Ranch so it was great to see Joe and Janet. How cool is it that our trips overlapped. We had a delicious Italian lunch at Mokus L’Ecureuil, which translates to Mokus the Squirrel. I’m so glad I didn’t know that before I selected that restaurant. The food was delicious and the company amazing!

This is the coolest bathroom ever. Push the large green button on the wall and the door goes up. Hit the large red button in the “stall” and the door goes down and locks. This is right out of Star Trek. I want one.

It was wonderful to see friends from home and to meet a couple of new friends. After a lovely lunch of pizza and lasagna (for Peter), Joe, Janet, Cheryl and Gary headed to the Eiffel Tower for their 2:00 ride to the top. Peter and I followed at a much slower pace, but only got as far as the plaza overlook.

When we saw this in 2018, it was surrounded by large walls and snaking security lines. It looks like that is gone now. It looks great.

It wasn’t easy positioning this selfie so that the tower wasn’t “growing” out of one of our heads.

Then it was back on the Metro for the ride back to the ‘hood. When we arrived, we had just enough room in our tummies for a bit of dessert at a café a few steps from our flat. Peter’s blood levels of ice cream were dangerously low, so he had a few scoops while I had Moelleux au Chocolat with a scoop of ice cream.

Chocolate cake around the outside with and explosion of rich chocolate cream on the inside. With the scoop of vanilla ice cream it was divine.

Since we ate way too much food this afternoon, we’ll have sandwiches for dinner. We’ll probably take a little walk later to test out Peter’s new walker, which, I need to pick up. So, we’ll chat again tomorrow. Love to all. L&P

Palais Garnier

The day started with a trip to the boulangerie for a loaf of bread, actually it’s more like a stick of bread. The easiest way to find a boulangerie is to look for the queue out the door. Luckily, I was there early so there were only a couple of people ahead of me.

In addition to croissants, beignets, and other breads there were plenty of sweets. They looked gorgeous and the two we got tasted as great as they looked.

After breakfast we walked out of Montmartre into the adjacent district and visited the Palais Garnier, also known as the Opera Garnier. On our way we saw some interesting things.

The famous Follies Bergere is about 1 1/2 blocks from our flat.

Have no idea what building this is but I thought it was pretty.

The Opera Garnier is another 19th century building built primarily for opera and ballet.

It was crazy crowded inside so getting pics without a million people was virtually impossible but here are some of the ones I took.

This is one of the gathering area…unbelievable!

One of the quieter corners. The carvings on the ceiling and pillars were amazing.

We were able to see the inside of the theater but it was way too dark for pictures. I’ve been past the building many times in previous visits to Paris but the was the first time I’d gone inside. It was really worth the visit, absolutely beautiful.

Then we headed to the Tuileries Garden to eat our lunch. On our way we passed the famous Place Vendome.

The center column has a statue of Napoleon in ancient Roman garb.

The part of the building with the white awning is the Ritz Carlton. Many people remember this as the place from where Princess Diana departed for the last fateful car ride. She left from the back of the building.

After lunch we headed home as I had a 3pm hair appointment. I was 3 weeks overdue and the hair desperately needed help. As we walked through the large green door to our courtyard, Peter lost his balance and hit the ground….again.

I was holding the door and saw him start to fall but couldn’t grab him fast enough. There were a couple of residents in the courtyard who came to help him get back on his feet. For those keeping score, this is 3rd fall total and 2 in the last 3 days. So far we’ve dodged 3 bullets but can’t count on that happening forever. We met a woman at the Opera House who fell down a few stairs and severely broke her ankle, requiring surgery and 3 days in a Paris hospital. That pretty much ended their vacation.

With that in mind we decided to upgrade his cane to a walker. There’s a pharmacy on the next block and they were able to order one to be delivered tomorrow. The hope is that the walker will give him a little more stability than the cane. Fingers crossed.

Exploring Montmartre

We had a lazy morning, sleeping late and enjoying a delicious breakfast in our lovely little flat.

You’ll notice that there’s no dining table. There actually is but it’s folded up against the wall. We pull it out when we eat.

It was about 11:30 before heading out for the top of the Montmartre hill. It was only a 30-minute walk, but it was all uphill. After about 20 minutes, we rested over coffee and hot chocolate in preparation for climbing about 50 stairs.

It took some time, but we finally made it to the top.

Around the corner we found another giant flight of stairs, twice as high as the one we just climbed. Luckily, there was a way around it because I’m not sure we could have done any more. We still had to go up the hill but did it gradually without the stairs.

Once to the top, it was just a short stroll to the Place du Tertre, which at one time, was the main square of the ancient city of Montmartre. Now it’s famous for the artists that set up their easels around the square and is one of the most visited places in Paris.

We visited 4 years ago when we were in Paris and purchased a gorgeous oil painting that now hangs in our living room.

The artist at work in 2018. The painting we bought was very similar to the one he’s working on in this photo.

We looked for the artist and while he wasn’t there his brother was. He speaks very good English and told me that his brother was home and wasn’t doing very well. He still paints but doesn’t come to the square anymore, so he sells the work for him.

The brother was also a very good artist.

This kid looks really excited about having his portrait painted. Notice how, in the painting, the artist is putting a slight smile on the kid’s face.

There were at least 50-60 artists all over the square and their work was incredible. Oh, to have talent.

After wandering around the small square, we crossed the street to the Eglise Saint-Pierre de Montmartre, the 2nd oldest church in Paris constructed in the 12th century. It’s a small church and very nondescript from the outside but beautiful on the inside.

It was built in the romance style of architecture.

Then it was around the corner to the magnificent Sacre Coeur Basilica, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. Factoid….a Basilica has higher church authority than a Cathedral.

Compared to the other churches we’ve seen in the UK and in earlier trips to the continent, this one is brand new. Construction began in 1870 and finished in 1923, so it’s only 100 years old. It sits high on top of Montmartre hill and can be seen from almost anywhere in the city.

Since we went into the Basilica in 2018, we didn’t go again but here are a few pictures from our first visit.

After enjoying our lunch in the dog park just down the hill (fending off the pooches who wanted to share our lunch), we took a 35-minute ride on the Petite Train through the local area. It actually went about 5 minutes from our flat before heading back to the Sacre Coeur.

There was a viewing platform overlooking the city. It was a beautiful, sunny day so it was a great view.

Once finished on the hill we walked down about a zillion stairs. We were going to take the funicular, but the ticket machine was only adding money to existing tickets, not selling new tickets. Since we didn’t already have a ticket, down the stairs we went. But down is better than up so it didn’t take too long.

As a reward for making it down the stairs without incident, we enjoyed a sweet crepe.

Mine had vanilla ice cream and Peter’s had caramel ice cream. Both were delicious.

Finally, we headed home but by the time we got there we were both exhausted. We’d walked over 11,000 steps and neither one of us had slept that well last night. So, it will be a quiet evening at home. We bought a couple of chicken cordon bleu and au gratin potatoes for dinner but we’re so full of crepes that we may save them for tomorrow night.

As always, thanks for joining us on our travels and we’ll talk again tomorrow.