Montmartre Minimalist Gargoyle

Day four of the LPH trip to Paris, and we headed up to Montmartre. The basilica is imposing and there are also great views of Paris if you look behind. The area is a haven for "the wristband trick" which involves men trying to tie a string band to your wrist and then charge you for it. Tim was accosted with a man grabbing his wrist, but managed to shake him off!

Once at the top near the basilica we took more photos - including the blip above - and then we walked around the back of the church. If you know where to look (and we did thanks to some tips from our French friends at dinner last night) there's the oldest vinyard in France just behind the church, so we went to find that. We then returned back to the centre of Montmartre and took some detail shots. It was really busy up here, and we dived into a quiet cafe and had lemon crepes and apple juice. We then took half an hour to walk around the square, and take in the artists that were drawing people. It was really crowded, and we struggled to make our way though the crowds so retired to some quiet backstreets to take photos.

We gradually made our way down the hill, stopping half way down for a lunch of savory crepes. I think the cafe we found was a little overwhelmed with ten of us, and something got lost between the waitress and the chef with many people ending up with the wrong meal. All was sorted in the end, with some opting to keep what they had been given.

When we got down to the bottom of the hill we were in the middle of the red light district. There was a method to this visit however, as we were there to take a quick look at the Moulin Rouge theatre.

We then took the Metro through to the other side of the Eiffel tower, and soon ran into trouble as the train was really busy. We left half the group stranded on the platform and had to wait for them to arrive, which took a further two trains. Once reunited we walked through under the Eiffel tower and left from the same water bus stop as yesterday. We stayed on the water for longer this time, and then walked back along the river taking in various photo opportunities including some ballroom dancing, a BMX rider doing tricks (John asked him to do it again so he could photograph it!) and a wedding.

We took photos of Notre Dame at sunset and then made our way back to the hotel. For our evening meal we went out to a different, slightly more expensive restaurant, but the food was excellent, the best we'd had so far. Definitely worth the money! We then spent more time at floodlit Notre Dame, and got to see the Eiffel Tower sparkling in the distance. There was a fire juggler in the square who entertained us for a while (and finished by juggling fireworks!) before we returned to the hotel for our final night.

More photos on Flickr.