Our second full day in Paris was much sunnier, with none of the fog we’d had the day before. Although we tend to avoid the tourist traps, this visit we tried to embrace it a bit more, so headed up to Montmartre to see another view of Paris and visit the Sacre-Cœur.
I have to be honest, having visited the Arc the day before and the Eiffel tower on a previous visit, I was unprepared for just how touristy this place would be. There were people everywhere, the majority either taking selfies or trying to force something on the tourists. Going up the steps to the church at one point about 6 guys tried to funnel us into a literal tourist trap (not saying it was anything nefarious, they were likely just trying to flog us something). Luckily we managed to manoeuvre past them pretty sharpish and got to the top.
Were the views worth it? Maybe. But I wouldn’t even consider going back at anything like peak-season.
After that, we idled our way back down through the artists’ square and independent shops of Montmartre. It was a nice way to spend an afternoon – we even found a gallery selling Shepard Fairey, Pure Evil and some other artists, which was a nice surprise.
After the rather intense tourist hit, we decided to spend the last day in Neuilly-sur-Seine where things were reassuringly French and laid back. We sat in the sun drinking beer, wandered about the incredibly good looking streets, and ate good food.
That’s what Paris is really all about.
trinkets and trauma 