Tea & croissant: Sacré-Cœur

Located further up north of Paris, this place requires quite a fair bit of foot work but it also allows you to enjoy the Parisian life. But if you are not prepared for walking, they do have a tram going uphill. Just be prepared to wait.

 What you do get is a rather breathtaking view of the city of love. But more on that later. 

One of the recommended spots in Paris, it's quieter at the bottom of the hill but things get merry once you reach the summit. In a way, that made sense as most of the people took the easy way up while we enjoyed the scenery walking there.

Surprisingly (or not), there were quite a few police patrols, some touting large guns walking around throughout the city. We initially thought that the French police were just doing their regular duty.

Turned out that they were afraid that tensions would run high due to the impending election and decided to step up security.

And that was a legitimate concern, seeing the spat of terror attacked in the past month alone.

So, I am quite relieved that nothing untoward happened during my week long visit there. Of the few episodes that did happen then, we were relatively unaffected at other parts of the city.

There were reports of mobs and riots between the protestors and police but we saw nothing of such.

If anything, we saw more tourist than locals.

Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris or Sacré-Cœur Basilica or Sacré-Cœur is a rather popular spot, judging from the queue to get into it.

Even if you are not into churches, the view alone is good enough reason to come here. As again, you'll see more of that after the church visit 😜

The droves of people could rival barely rival Notre Dame's so the wait was about 5minutes. 10minutes top.

No entrance fee too.

More stained glass murals.

There was a service going on. French obviously.

Maybe it was in the afternoon so the place was rather bright, thanks to the sunlight streaming in.

Ceilings were spectacular though you would probably need a binocular to properly tell the details.

Not a staunch Christian or even remotely one, I think church visits are a waste for me because I don't know the character well.

Of course, the usual suspects are Jesus Christ (either seen crucified or looking down with a mournful expression), Virgin Mary (holding a baby in one arm).

I've never quite read the Bible till the end. Could barely work past Genesis.

There are also many different branches within Christianity itself. If you are interested, most of the churches do have book stores for you to learn more. Not guaranteed in English.

I did prefer this over Notre Dame, solely for the natural lighting reason.

Service in full swing.

Having just finished this book, I have to say that it got me slightly interested to understand Christianity better.

Not about the Bible and how Christ saved us by doing for us but about the angels and the god. Maybe even move to Greek mythology.

Compared to last year, my reading has slowed down tremendously this year. Partly due to to work. Partly because I've read most of my books.

The urge to go out and buy new books is strong. But when I look at my makeshift library (aka a re-purposed box), probably easier for me to just get the online version.

If I have as much or even a quarter of this church space, the possibilities are almost endless.

An encased Virgin Mary. I had a lot of ideas for many of the shots which just didn't pan out right.

I want to blame my camera for the low quality, the tourists for not letting me focus properly, my travel companion for rushing me through.

But really, lousy photographer is lousy la.

At this stage, only a miracle can save my photographs.

There's only that much Photoshop can do =(

So this is the view I was talking about.

Don't have to pay to get up here. Don't have to wait to walk up here.

Do you know which other Paris spot I was referring to?

The place was so packed with people that it was a bit difficult to move about. There were people peddling souvenirs e.g. key chains, water, wine (!).

Oh and like most of the popular spots, they would ask you to open your bag to check if there's anything suspicious.

Outside the church, we thought that people were queuing up to go into a bar. 

It turned out to be the entrance to the village. There were a number of these street artists who'll do your portrait for a fee. Or you could just buy their ready made paintings. Some are not bad. There are also restaurants to grab a bite but they look quite like tourist traps.

It was fascinating to watch this man make crepe. Either that or I was just drawn to the heat in the cold.

After that, we made our descend into the quiet village again. It was a very enjoyable walk, away from the people.