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This was the last full day of our honeymoon. Our alarm did not go off that morning, but fortunately, we only got out
of bed 20 minutes late. We went down to have, what turned out to be, our last breakfast at the Artus.
We took the M�tro to the Anvers stop in the Montmartre area.
It was raining lightly but we had our coats, and we weren't going to let the rain stop us
from exploring Montmartre. We walked up Rue de Steinkerque, passing
many souvenir shops on our way to the Sacr� Coeur basilica, which is at the highest point (420 feet) in Paris.
Sacr� Coeur was built in the Roman-Byzantine style. Its foundations were layed in 1875.
After touring the interior we continued on Rick Steves' Montmartre Walk, which led us through the back streets of Montmartre, where we saw
one of Paris' oldest churches, dating from 1147. Its four columns (out front and behind the altar) are even older, and may have stood in a temple to
Mercury or Mars in Roman times. The name "Montmartre" comes from the Roman "Mount of Mars", though later generations, thinking of their beheaded patron
St. Dennis, preferred a less pagan version, "Mount of Martyrs".
There are several famous sites in Montmartre. 
La Maison Rose
is the subject of a painting by Utrillo,
who, along with Pablo Picasso and Gertrude Stein, was a patron of the restaurant. Lapin Agile
was named for the picture on its exterior of a rabbit escaping from a saucepan
and was the hotspot of its day. Picasso, Renoir, Modigliani, and struggling writers and artists were among the participants at its 'open mic nights'.
We also saw the house where Vincent Van Gogh lived with his brother for two years. Our tour of the Montmartre district concluded on Pigalle at the
Moulin Rouge. The Moulin Rouge is famous for the large red imitation windmill on its roof
and was one of the first cabarets in late 19th century Paris.
Pigalle is lined with sex shops, peep-shows, and theaters promoting live sex-acts. Its seedy atmosphere has a long history. During WWII it was well known
for having cheap wine and even cheaper women and was nicknamed "Pig Alley" by American GIs.
We took the M�tro from Pigalle to the Champs-�lys�es and then took the underground passage to avoid
the traffic circle around the Arc de Triomphe. The arc was commissioned in 1806,
after the victory at Austerlitz, by Napoleon Bonaparte at the peak of his fortunes. It was finally completed, after a long pause during the Restoration, in the reign of King Louis-Philippe in 1833-36.
The arc is over 51 meters (167 feet) in height and is 45 meters (148 feet) wide. Its sides are adorned with sculpture, the most famous
of which is known as La Marseillaise, which is also the name of the French national anthem.
We were starting to get hungry, so we decided to find a place for lunch on the Champs-�lys�es. We almost ate at the infamous McDonald's on the
Champs-�lys�es, but at the last minute we decided we couldn't do it, so we ended up eating next door at the
Flora Danica. We had
a poulet salade and a dill preserved salmon sandwich, along with two tiny expensive glasses of rose wine. After lunch, we walked along the
Champs-�lys�es and saw the Louis Vatton store
and a car covered in astroturf.
We stopped in Sephora (a famous perfumery) and got a few gifts for our family back home2, before taking the M�tro back to our hotel.
At a small grocery store near our hotel, we purchased
an apple and some strawberries and chocolate for dinner. We set up a taxi through the front desk for our departure the next day and returned to our room
to eat dinner while we packed. After dinner, we still wanted to make the most of our last few hours in Paris, so we left our hotel to wander the nearby streets.
We were still hungry, so we got a crepe with Nutella, some gelato, and a "take-away" spring roll at a nearby Asian cafe.
We returned to our room and went to bed exhausted, half relieved and half disappointed to be leaving the next day.
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