Paris 14.11.2012

We woke this morning to blue skies, chilly but not too bad. We caught the Metro (train) to the Sacre Coeur, the Basilica in Montmartre. We came to visit it last time, but the train from the street to the basilica wasn't working, and as there is a huge number of steps only John saw inside. Thankfully, this time the train was working!! It is one of the most serene places I have been. There was a Mass being said while we were there - it was a very moving visit. On the train we actually saw a girl who went to pick pocket an older man. Another man, a Parisian I presume, saw her and stopped her!! After our visit to the Basilica, we stopped to buy something, and as I was putting my change in my bag, a woman tried to put her hand in my pocket !! Thankfully I had nothing in it, so she missed out!!!There are a lot of beggars in and around Paris - at the Metro Stations, Church entrances even in shop doorways. We see nothing like it in Australia. We then caught a bus back to the Left Bank to soak up some more of the atmosphere. Unfortunately by mid afternoon, the weather took a turn for the worse, and became bitterly cold, so being a little on the tired side, we decided to head back to the apartment,(via the Patisserie) for an easy dinner, a hot bath and a reasonably early night, as we have a taxi booked for 6.15am tomorrow to take us to Gare de Lyon for our train trip to Venice.