Around the streets of Paris (Sunday 7th July 2013)

Today we caught the sightseeing bus around the main sights of Paris. Like the London bus it's a hop-on/hop-off service with audio commentary. Cost is 31 Euro to do each of the 4 different routes to each of the major areas.

We caught the bus from Place de la Republique near the hotel. First stop was at the Place de Madelaine where there is a huge oblong church without any windows. It looks nothing like a church from the outside being surrounded by large Corinthian columns on every side. The next bus took us in the direction of the Louvre and over to the Eiffel Tower via the Champs Elysees, the Arc de Triomphe (so easy to navigate when you driving a great big bus!) and other monuments. We hopped off at the Eiffel Tower, saw the huge queues, took some photos and jumped back on. We'll do the Eiffel Tower with an early start tomorrow!

We had a sandwich (toasted baguette with ham/chicken, tomato etc) waiting the bus to take us on the next route. This bus went through the Place de la Concorde – all set up the final day of the Tour de France - to the Hotel des Invalides where we changed to another route. This route took us up the Boulevard St. Germain – very nice leafy street - to the Latin Quarter, the Ille de la Cite, the Ille Saint-Louis and Notre Dame Cathedral. Plenty of queues there too so checking out the inside was moved to the “if we have enough time” list.

Changed routes again and headed into the Montparnasse district where the University of Paris id located. The pace seem a less hectic on this the Left Bank of the Seine and really enjoyed taking in the street-scapes here. We wound up back at Hotel des Invalides and changed to a bus that would take us back to Place de Madelaine. By the way, most of the day was warm and sunny with about 31 degrees so the breeze in the topless bus was appreciated. By now it was about 5:30pm and we had one more leg to complete – the first half of the route that we started on this morning – which would take us back to Place de la Republique. This route took us to Montmartre, past the famous Moulin Rouge to the base of the climb to the Sacre Coure Basilica, and what a climb it was!! The church is so impressive standing as it does on the highest point in Paris. The view back to to city is stunning. People were literally thick on the ground on the steps and the grassy slopes.

The touts were out in force but nio hard to ignore. In some ways it was a bit disturbing to see people eating, drinking, selling trinkets, littering and playing loud music on iPods. There was even a chap playing piano on a terrace halfway up! It must disturb the parish priest somewhat.

Anyway, we made it to the top and entered the church. To our great surprise there was no entry fee, just some parishioners holding a plate at the front door. To our even greater surprise, being a Sunday, the 6:00pm Mass had just started so we sat down to join the congregation for Mass. Emily translated some things during the sermon for us but it was actually ran exactly like a Mass at home. We were indeed privileged to a part of this magnificent church's normal ritual. Oh, by the way, the inside of the Church is just as spectacular and the outside and made even more so by the ceremony we were able to be a part of.

We dropped into a small bar at the foot of the church after Mass – we don't usually have a drink straight after Mass - as it was so hot then headed to the Metro for the first time. It's very easy to use the automatic ticket vending machine and easy to work-out how to get to one's destination. Pretty soon we were back at Place de la Republique ,found a little Italian place for dinner (and a very nice Cappuccino) and then headed back home.