Sacre Coeur & Eiffel Tower

An energetic day with lots of steps ...

Saturday, 7th July and we caught the Red Bus from Notre Dame to the Paris Opera stop and then we "navigated" our way on foot up the hill to Sacre Coeur. We must have climbed at least 150 steps plus the climb up the hill (this becomes important later on!)

The view from Sacre Coeur was impressive as was the Church itself.

The impressive view over Paris.

Sacre Coeur on top of the only hill in Paris.

We walked back down to Paris Opera and took the Red Bus to the Trocadero stop from where you get a great view of the Eiffel Tower.

The Eiffel Tower with ominous clouds circling!

As there was only one Eiffel Tower lift working with a huge queue we decided to walk up the 668 steps to the 2nd Level. The queue for the stairs was only about 20 minutes. In this view you can see the high rise commercial area of Paris outside the Peripherique.

A great view on all sides!

From this side you can see Sacre Coeur in the distance (and some rain).

Another great view. Note the threatening skies getting worse.

This view is across the Parc Du Champ De Mars. In the distance you see the only high rise building that was ever allowed within the Peripherique.

A friendly tourist managed to capture this picture of both of us!

Looking upwards to the Eiffel Tower summit is a dizzying experience.

We sheltered on the Eiffel Tower whilst one rain storm passed. Then we decided to make a run for the Red Bus stop but were caught in a second rain storm at the bottom of the Eiffel Tower. We sheltered from the worst of it under an umbrella under a tree!






On our way back to the hotel after dinner we noticed that the queue to climb the Notre Dame Towers was the smallest we had ever seen. (Friday & Saturday nights it closes at 11.30pm). We climbed the 387 steps right to the top and the night time view was spectacular.

You can clearly see the illuminated Eiffel Tower from the top of Notre Dame.

Sacre Coeur is also visible in the distance.

The gargoyles and various sculptures on the Notre Dame are quite gruesome at night!

You really did feel like you were "on the top" of Notre Dame when you were looking down on other parts of the roof and spire.

The "big bell" in the Notre Dame Tower. This was up another 40+ stairs! The day had seen us climb at least 1,245 steps! To say the least, we were exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel after 11.00pm.