Montmartre

Today we took the metro to Montmartre.  The station we had been instructed to alight at was Abbesses.    As we started towards the stairs we noticed a lift, but elected for the stairs.  Little did we realize there were 285 steps to be climbed!   This is the deepest station is Paris!   Needless to say, a rest was needed not only at the top, but one or twice on the we as well. 

This station is one of the few original Art nouveau stations left in the city, and one of the two that retain their original glass roof. 

Once we were at street level, we walked to the funicular railway, and rode it to the top where Sacre Coeur is situated.  This basilica was built as a memorial to the 58,000 French soldiers killed during the Franco-Prussion War .    There were so many people there, it is a good vantage point over Paris, but unfortunately there was a great deal of smog covering the city. 

Very soon , it was lunchtime, so we sat in a bistro half in and half out, not quite "in the gutter" but pretty close to it, and while we enjoyed our lunch, watched the crowds  of tourists pass by.

Then a slow  dawdle around the streets, what an amazing place.  There were lots of artists selling their work previously painted, and others doing portraits and caricatures.

Once we had returned home, we decided to eat dinner at home, so  I whipped around to our local boulangerie , and bought some quiche and salad .  How easy is that?  We could get very used to it .