Paris, day two - Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, Sacre Couer...

Paris 1 July, day two - warm and sunny. We had a great day today. We caught the metro to the Champs Elysées station. We walked along the Champs Elysées looking at the shops and cafes and the Arc de Triomphe at the end. We had coffee and muffins in a cafe and bought some clothes at a couple of shops. Heaps of sales (soldes) on.

We went inside and to the top of the Arc de Triomphe. That was fun and unreal views all around. It is a huge arch in the centre of a massive roundabout about 10 lanes wide. But there are no lines and cars were going everywhere. There were 12 streets that radiate off the roundabout.

Napoleon built the arch (at least he started it). Then we walked the Champs Elysées some more and then caught the metro home for lunch.

Then we walked to Notre Dame cathedral and went inside. There was a sunday service on inside but tourists were allowed to walk through. Inside was incredible. It is a gothic church. It is about 800 years old. It took 200 years to build. How old is settlement in Australia?

Then we jumped on the metro (had to change lines 3 times but it was real quick) and went to Montmarte, a small trendy hilltop suburb of Paris where there are lots of restaurants and cafes and great views. There was a market there. A famous church Sacre Couer is on top of the hill.

There were lots of people there as it is one of the top tourist attractions and one of the favourite things for Parisians to do on a Sunday. We walked up the cobblestone streets and up the long stairs to the top of the hill and then went inside the church. Again there was a service on and we were allowed to walk around inside. This also was incredible inside....

The views from the top of the hill were great. We walked around the streets and bought some souvenirs and another bracelet charm. We had a gelato here, our first in France. There was a little park where there were about 20 artists doing sketches of people's faces. Mum has always been keen for us to have sketches of us done here, but it was getting late so we will come back in a few days.

Watching all the people getting their sketches done was really cool. We then walked back to the metro and went home. It was late but doesn't get dark here till 10pm (day break before 5am). We had a really great day. Disneyland tomorrow - Dad booked a 3 day pass for us when we got back home. The Creber girls xxx.