Le troisième jour: Paris - more walking

Our third day in Paris turned out to be another beautiful yet cold day, so we decided to spend it visiting other "must see" sites. We started out by taking the Metro to Tour d'Eiffel. We had initially planned to take a lift up to the top to take in the views of beautiful Paris. Unfortunately our plan was thwarted - it seemed like everyone had decided to spend their winter holiday in Paris. The line to the ticket counter was so long and windy that we decided to nix the plan and just take photos from the perimeter of the tower.

It was still fairly early in the day, so we decided to take the Metro to the Montmartre district. Montmartre has long been known as being the home to many famous artists, so that alone was enough to entice Jocelyn into visiting the area. We arrived just in time for lunch so we dined at a local brasserie. Gabriel had his second croque-monsieur of the trip, while Alan chose the croque-saumon (same as the croque-monsieur, except the ham is substituted with smoked salmon) and I had the croque madame (the same as the croque-monsieur except with a fried egg on top). Jocelyn decided to have sausages and fries (sounds suspiciously like a German meal, doesn't it?) while my parents had the smoked salmon quiche (my mother is quite fond of quiche).

After a quick meal, we headed toward the Basilique Sacré-Coeur. The kids got sidetracked by a carousel that was located at the base of the Sacré Coeur, so we let them play for a while before we trekked up the stairs to the Basilique.

After a few rounds, we were able to pry the kids off the carousel. Then we had to weave our way through a massive throng of people to get to the Sacré Coeur. It seemed like there was a mob of people everywhere we decided to go. Once we made our way inside, we saw that all of our efforts were worth it. The church's interior was stunning, adorned with beautiful stained glass windows and interesting architectural details. Here is a photo of the exterior.

Since it was still fairly early in the afternoon after we had finished looking around the Sacré Coeur, we decided to go to yet another location. This time we headed to the Panthéon, which is located in the Latin Quarter. Though it was originally used as a church, it is now a burial place for the national heroes of France. Amongst those who are resting at the Panthéon (in the underground crypt) are Voltaire, Victor Hugo, and Jean Jacques Rousseau. Alan mentioned that a few famous scientists were buried there as well: Carnot, Pierre and Marie Currie, and Lagrange. Here are some photos of the Panthéon.

After our tour of the Panthéon, it was starting to get dark (and pretty gosh darn cold) so we decided to have some dinner before we headed back to the hotel. I must admit, the children were very good sports throughout the entire trip. We spent a lot of time walking, but they never complained about being tired. They even seemed to be genuinely interested in everything we were looking at, though most of the time they didn't really understand the full significance of what they were viewing. Despite that, they were still attentive and asked questions whenever they were puzzled. Those kids just continue to amaze me.