From Ile St-Louis to Montmartre

We spent day 3 in the City of Light the same way we spent day 2, which meant lots and lots of walking (and food).  Before we left for Paris, I purchased a guidebook that gave suggestions for walking tours.  Since that was in the backpack that was stolen, I had to improvise.  Frommer's online saved our butts and gave a great itinerary for Paris in 1, 2, or 3 days.  We used the day 2 itinerary and improvised as we went along.

After we grabbed our customary breakfast near the hotel, Mr. J and I hopped on the Metro and got off the stop near the Louvre.  We walked by the river again and headed to Ile St-Louis.  The island is filled with beautiful antique homes and mansions and very cute shops.

View of Notre Dame from Ile St-Louis:

After a pretty walk around the island, we head to Musee D'Orsay.  The museum ended up being one of our favs from the trip!  The building itself is beautiful and we were told it's an old train station that was converted into museum space.  Too bad they wouldn't allow you to take pictures inside (and the Louvre did, weird).  I did sneak in two pics while we were taking a break inside the cafe :-)

We grabbed lunch at a nearby sidewalk cafe.  The space was so tight that I couldn't even break out the camera to take pics of our food.  Heh.  After lunch, we hopped on the Metro and headed to Montmartre to check out the Basilique du Sacre-Coeur.  This church is located on top of a hill in a suburb of Paris.  Part of its beauty is its stark white color. 

The views were breathtaking, especially with clear skies.

This kid was amazing with a soccer ball, especially given the height.

We were going to try and climb up the tower of the church to get an even higher viewpoint, but once we were told just how many steps there were to the top we decided to pass :-)

Instead, we walked around Montmartre.  Such a pretty little area with great shops.

I bought some yummy macarons in this shop and wish I shipped some home!

Since we took our sweet time walking around Montmartre, we decided to have dinner in the neighborhood too.  We picked a place called Le Chinon, 49 Rue des Abbesses.  I thought I took pictures of our diner but apparently not.  However, I do have a pic of the wine we drank :-)

Ah, a great meal to end another day in Paris.