You win some, you Blog some.: Paris by Night and Day

We spent our last day in Paris trotting around different neighborhoods, squeezing in whatever sights we could on a rainy day. Montmartre was our first stop of the day. We made the steep climb to the top of the hill to this ancient looking church, though by Parisian standards it's brand new. It is only about 20 years older than the Eiffel Tower. Inside the basilica of Sacre Coeur, 24 hours a day, someone is praying for Christ to understand the sins of the world.

It's not hard to ask someone to take your photo, especially if you already heard them speak English.

Sacre Coeur offers another great view overlooking Paris

No pictures allowed inside Sacre Coeur. I bought a little bookmark with a picture of the mosaic ceiling, only to have the bookmark fall out of my shopping bag when it got wet and split open. C'est la vie!

Our next stop is the Opera Garnier, home to one of the greatest ballet companies in the world and the Opera Nationale, not to mention a masked phantom...

There are enormous beehives on the roof, you can actually purchase the honey they harvest when it's in season!

I would have very much preferred to come and see a performance here, but there were no productions on during our visit. Seeing the actual theater was very limited as they were working on lighting for next weeks performance. We couldn't actually see the famous ceiling art. I will not be satisfied until I can come back and see a ballet or concert on that stage.

This place made me feel underdressed in the extreme.

Everything about this opera house was designed so that the rich and famous could be seen seeing the opera. There is less space dedicated to the seating than there is to the grand entrance. The most expensive seats have restricted views of the stage but can easily be viewed by all the other patrons.

Here G. F. Handel is honored in a manner that would have suited his ego.

By this time were so ready for a rest and a meal. We took the metro to the Marais district where we dined on inexpensive and heavenly falafel and slightly expensive but no less heavenly eclairs.

We wandered by Place des Vosges, the square Victor Hugo would have looked out on as he penned Les Miserables...

And we spent a few minutes at the Musee Carnivalet. The former mansion is a free museum of the history of Paris. We visited the revolution rooms, we were feeling a little too tired to spend much time in a quiet warm museum.

Musee Carnivalet's garden courtyard.

Vive la revolution!

Behind Lee is a model of the Bastille. The infamous fortress was ripped down, brick by brick, so nothing is left of it now, it has been replaced by a roundabout, a victory column, and a sleek new age opera house, The Opera Bastille.

We visited the Centre du Pompidou to checkout the wild exo-skeletal design, but we didn't go in to see the modern art galleries. We'll get our modern art fix elsewhere.

The blurry smudge next to me is either a ghost or a raindrop on the camera lens.

We found that taking a break in the late afternoon before going out in search of dinner helped to keep us on our feet later in the evening. As this was our last night in Paris, we decided to finish it off with a night time cruise up the Seine. We were completely freezing for the whole hour, but it was well worth it. Sure we could have gone to the heated, glass covered lower deck, but I wanted better views and better photos, so we stuck it out on the upper deck. And so, without further ado, I give you Paris by Night: