A Snowy Marshmallow Church

Today was not a day for being outside and doing the tourism "thang".

Nevertheless, we forced ourselves to get out and about, navigating the underground Metro to emerge at the foot of the Sacre Coeur at Montmatre. More accurately, we were ALMOST at the foot of the great white church. Okay, I'll level with you, we were about 3 blocks away. In the other direction. But the point of the story is, we climbed up to the top, saw a panoramic view of Paris, and sought sanctuary inside the great building, away from the blustery wind and delicate snow. While a cranky Frenchman not-so-politely shushed the devoted Catholics and heathen tourists alike, one woman attempted to take a photograph and was almost manhandled out of the church. That little Frenchman was not taking any prisoners on HIS watch.

Descending the hill by cable car, we explored the network of cheap souvenir shops and $2 establishments dotted along the laneways of Montmartre, stopping only to purchase a chew-toy for Andrea's dog, Hershey. Next stop was a coffee shop, and a pause to view the snow falling (a little heavier now) outside. Once we had refilled and defrosted, we grabbed the Metro back to Kate's place.

A heartening afternoon snack of hot chips and cheap red wine was just the tonic for our tired bones. We have now thrown our collective belongings into one suitcase, ready to attack the European trains first thing tomorrow morning.

Not sure when the next blog post will be, so perhaps you can just behave yourselves in the mean time, until I next check in.