Today we took another hop-on-hop-off bus tour. This sort of thing is more appropriate for Paris (rather than Vienna, see Day 24) because you will find yourself actually wanting to hop off at the city’s attractions.
After getting another view of the Louvre, we stopped at Notre Dame and explored its magnificent interior. Taking pictures in cathedrals is hard because it’s low light with wide, open spaces where you’re typically not allowed to use flash. Nevertheless, you can get great shots of the intricate and colorful stained glass panes with the light shines through.
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Notre Dame
After a quick peek inside Paris’ hallmark church, we got back on the bus and rode to the Arc de Triomphe. It’s quite large in person and the traffic around it is insane, but it didn’t appear to be out of the ordinary. We climbed a few hundred steps to reach the inside of the arch (quite the workout!), and saw exhibits on French military history. Afterwards, we boarded the bus again to see more of the city.
Later that evening, we rode the metro to Abbesses near Montmarte, one of the tallest hills in Paris, topped by the Sacré Cœur, a beautiful looking church that overlooks the city. Albeit, to get there we had to climb scores of more steps (save yourself and take the elevator at Abbesses), but tired and sweaty we pressed on. The view from the hill was glorious — the city really does stretch out to the horizon.
We quickly negated all the calories we burned stair-climbing by stopping for some pizza at Pizzeria Babalou. I can personally recommend their Quattro Formaggio (four-cheese).