Saturday

Our first stop today was the art market near the Bastille (Opera House). There was art of course, jewelry and other crafts. Most of the vendors spoke some English, but one spoke some Italian and I spoke Spanish and we were able to understand each other. Later in the Metro I used my Spanish again when some young men approached us while we were looking at a map. They struggled for some French words, but kept lapsing into Spanish, so I told them I spoke Spanish and then we figured out what they needed to know.

Our next step was the Basilica Sacre Coeur at Montmartre. It sits high on a hill with many steps to the top. When we got off the metro, people were lined up to use the 2 elevators and we wondered why they didn't just walk up. About 150 steps later, we had our answer. The stairs went on and on!

Near Montmartre there was a funicula to ride up the hill, but we walked. (pedometer showed a mere 6743 at the end of the day) Montmarte is a sacred hill, the mount of martyrs, where Saint Denis, the first bishop of Paris (late 3rd century) and his companions were martyred. Many other saints have visited there. The current, very beautiful, basilica was constructed in the late 1800s. We then visited the artists market. It was very crowded and French people of all ages were strolling around for hours. But, gosh, it was cold. We finally had to eat in a restaurant to get warmed up. Saturday is a big day for everyone to be out and about and the metro was extremely crowded all the way home.

Lynne's friend, Lucille, came down to visit this evening to see our pictures and catch up on what we had been doing all day. Tomorrow our metro passes expire, so we plan to make full use of them. Bon soir.