As lots of museums are closed on Mondays (and so was Versailles), and we had seen the main sights before, we decided to just explore some neighbourhoods. Unfortunately that involves a lot of walking and John's legs were still sore so we built in breaks at the apartment.

We Skyped home (Glen, Katherine and Birdy) and then set off for Montmatre and the Sacre Coeur . We discovered a new metro station, Abbesses, which must be a long way underground as it had a large lift to get us up. We took the funicular up, which was a bit lazy of us, but we knew we would have spare metro tickets and it was a different ride.

We looked at the view first. It was cloudy so although we had no problem picking out the main sights it was not worth taking photos. We had thought about going up the Montparnasse tower for the view but this confirmed it would not be worth it, We also sat and enjoyed the buskers – a man playing the violin and also a group of 4 young women playing string instruments.

Of course we went onto the church. It is relatively new and the 125th jubilee was being advertised. There have been prayers said continuously in the church since it opened. The church was built after Paris suffered in the 19th century with a Prussian invasion and it was felt that the decadence of the previous years was being punished by God . The church was built in penance.

We did an earth cache here. For these you usually need to answer a question to prove you have been there but also show you have learned something geographical. We learned that there is gypsum in the blocks that make up the exterior and so it gets whiter with the effect of rain. The more protected parts of the church are darker.

We then wandered down the hill and around looking for another cache that turned out to be very close to the metro. It was at a wall where 'I love you’ has been written in a huge variety of languages. We had intended wandering around the area following a suggested walk but a number of the places mentioned were closed or expensive so we just did our own thing. We did find the bakery mentioned but had already eaten. We then walked along the main street but on the opposite side to where we stayed last time and John bought a trolley for his bag. We then went back to the apartment for a break.

We had thought about an afternoon walk on the Left Bank but instead wandered around the area we are staying in. We found it nicer than Montmatre once you get off the main streets. The streets of Paris are often grubby with litter everywhere which is sad as I don’t remember it being this bad 5 years ago when we were here with Irene. We started noticing in fact when the streets were clean. There were a lot of signs of people living on the streets, both under the bridges and in the pedestrian-only passages . John watched a woman tear out pages from a magazine then stuff the unwanted ones at the back of the fold up seat next to her.

We had never been to the big department store Gallerie Lafyette so thought we would go there a couple of hours before it closed. A metro exit took us into the shoe department where I recognised the names so did not bother to look at prices. They even had a part where you could customize your own jandals – the bases were on a circle and you could move the possible straps around until you found a colour combination that suited. The souvenirs included some about the store, just like Harrods. The longest queue was

for people to get their tax back.

We went up a few floors but as they had no real electronic stuff and the clothing was too expensive for my budget we soon left. We didn’t even check out the food part because we couldn’t be bothered walking that far .

This meant we arrived a little early at the Tower Eiffel where we had gone to watch it light up. We had loads of time to walk, stop then walk on until we were at the new Peace Wall on the far side of the tower.

On the way we couldn’t believe how many hawkers were selling Eiffel Towers of various sizes, especially as we only saw 1 child with one and saw only 2 sales, both of the small key rings. We watched a hawker displaying a cow that danced and a hula dancer. He had to rescue the cow every 2 minutes as it danced it’s way down the path. While a lot of people smiled as they passed the cow he didn’t sell any in the 10 minutes we were there.

On the Champs de Pay, behind the Tower, there were a large number of people picnicking. I was told the grass used to be out of bounds so it was nice to see it in use. On the nearby courts there was a group playing Netball (strange to see in France). The hawkers here included people selling beer and wine as well as soft drinks. We had a chat to one persistent salesman but still didn’t buy. We enjoyed watching all the people taking photos. They had people squatting down or stretching up, holding their hands apart and even jumping so they were supporting the Tower in some form or other.

As the dark increased, the camera flashes from the Tower became more common and then the lighting started on the pylons. We didn’t stay for the flashes from the top as it was getting cooler. Instead we stopped for dessert and coffee near the apartment and then home.