Paris - Day 2

We had breakfast included in our stay, so went down about 8.30. It was fairly basic, but had cereals, croissants, bread, meat, cheese and fruit so was perfectly fine.

We'd booked to visit the Paris Catacombs at 11am, so first we caught the Metro from our local station, Oberkampf, to Denfert-Rochereau.

Being a bit early, we went for a stroll round the nearby Montparnasse Cemetery. There are a number of notable graves there, including one with Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beavoir.

At 11 we entered the catacombs, with audio guides. The first part tells the story of the quarry work that used to take place under Paris, the led to many collapses of the buildings up above. They eventually stopped the quarrying and reinforced the passages to "save" Paris.

You then come to a sign above a door saying "Stop! This is the empire of the dead."

The following passages are filled with the bones of millions and millions of people, which have been moved here from above-ground cemeteries and churches. It goes on for miles!

We caught the Metro over to the Montmartre area in the north, and visited the Sacré-Cœur Basilica.

The area in front is very touristic.

We looked around inside, then paid to climb up to the top of the dome, which had great views.

We walked round the corner to Place du Tertre, the artists square, where you can get painting and caricatures done of yourself or your pets.

We wandered slowly back down into the centre of the city. We passed a street where there had been windmills in the past, and eventually got down to the Moulin Rouge.

We walked along Pigalle, with all its sex shops.

We stopped for a drink at a bar, then made our way back to the hotel on the Metro.

After resting for a while we went out for dinner. First to the Frog & Rosbif pub for a drink, which was very good, they brew their own beer.

Then dinner was at Les Marmottes restaurant, who do an all-you-can-eat raclette. You get a huge section of a cheese wheel mounted in a heater, a bucket of cooked potatoes and a plate of charcuterie. We accompanied it with a bottle of wine.

It was very good, we ate a huge amount of cheese, then they offered us more...

We had to walk back to the hotel, to walk off some of the food!