Eurotrip 2023: Day 11 – Sacré-Cœur and the Jardin du Luxembourg

The sight of a ‘no rain’ forecast on my weather app was a welcome news!

The previous day had been very wet, but Paris still delivered. For our 11th day, we’d be visiting Sacré-Cœur at Montmartre.

Compared to Rome where I already lost count the number of churches we have visited, Sacré-Cœur was our first in Paris.

Contrary to other days, Ikle had a prior commitment leaving. She’d be joining us later in the day as we drop by Les Halles for some souvenir shopping.

I have not been opening Google Maps in the last couple of days. We had been too reliant with Ikle with the navigation. But as it was just the four of us, back to Google I went.

From rue Poissonière, we walked to Strasbourg Saint-Denis station for the Line 4. From there, we travelled all the way to Barbè-Rochechouart.

As soon as we got out of the station, it took me a full minute to gather my sense of direction before we started walking. I had wanted to minimize the wrong turns as possible, so Papa would not be annoyed.

Sacré-Cœur was not easy to miss. It sits at the very top of the hill of the 18th arrondissement, dominating the skyline. Except for one wrong turn at rue de Sofia, we eventually found our way at the bottom of Square Louis Michel.

From there, the funiculaire was a short walk. The wait to inside it was a a bit of a wait though. Under normal circumstance, I would not shy away from the challenge of taking the stairs going up to Sacré-Cœur.

But as we were both with my parents, it was no question we had to take the funiculaire. Good thing that the Navigo we purchased had it included.

After around 10 minutes, we were on our way up.

When we reached Sacré-Cœur, it was already full of people. There was even a man playing a saxophone at the bottom of the stairs adding that vibe to the atmosphere.

We have spent a considerable time just looking at Paris, and took some more photos especially of Mama and Papa. We have seen enough movies featuring Sacré-Cœur not to be enamored with the Romano-Byzantine structure.  The sky was clear, and Sacré-Cœur was glistening under the Parisian sun.

After taking in the beauty of Paris from that vantage, we eventually entered Sacré-Cœur.

The first thing you’d see once you enter Sacré-Cœur was the ‘Christ in Majesty’ mosaic.

The mosaic is considered as one of the largest mosaics in the world, representing the risen Christ with a golden heart. Around Christ were figures protecting France: Saint Joan of Arc, Virgin Mary, Saint Michael, Pope Leo XIII, and a representation of France offering her crown.

With the grandeur of its interior and the many tourists who went inside, it may be easy to forget that it was still a working church. There were reminders everywhere for people to be mindful of the noise and respect the solemnity of the basilica.

And as her usual practice in all the churches we have visited, Mama had to lit a candle and offer her prayers. There were times that I forgot how meaningful these church visits were to Mama, thus I had to make sure I had some euros to spare so we can put them in the donation box.

There were also commemorative Sacré-Cœur coins from digital dispensers. We then got one each from different machines so we’d have a souvenir during our visit. Mama and Papa were so happy with such a keepsake.

At around 12:36 pm, we went out of the basilica. To our surprise there was a commotion outside, as two men, one of which was carrying a professional camera were having a shouting match.

It eventually escalated to a fistfight, prompting people to shout and egg on the two men. It felt like one of those Street Fighter matches that jump from one location to another.

On the other hand, we were thinking that it was a diversion for pickpockets, as most visitors were so busy shouting and cheering at the ‘boxing match‘ taking place. And speaking of scammers, we even passed by a family being asked by a woman to answer a survey as we made our way back to the funiculaire. Textbook scammer.

It was almost 1:00 pm, way past Papa’s designated lunch time. Kidding.

We had no idea where to eat, so I was just looking at Google Maps for highly rated restos around the area.

I have seen that there was a street (rue des Troise Frères) full of options that range from 1-star to almost 5-star reviews on Google Reviews.

Of course we went for the highest one.

We found Mamie Colette, which had a 4.8/5 review. It was the CUTEST, yet non-pretentious resto thus far in Paris for us.

While the place was not the biggest, it more than made up for its interior. I was mentally taking notes of possible inspirations if Mon and I were to eventually have our own place, which would be distinctively Mamie Colette. Bonus, we heard our first Edith Piaf in Paris as ‘Hymne à l’amour’ played in the background as we wait for our food.

We got the lunch formule of a main course + dessert each (€15,50 each). For Papa and me, we got le bourguignon traditionnel; for Mama, le burger buorguignon; and for Mon, la saucisse de moselle. We also had an apéro gourmand with foie gras. And for dessert, we had the glace artisanale.

The bourguignon was extraordinary, and definitely my most favorite. They also had a substantial serving, which was more enough for us hungry tourists.

If we were to go back to Paris, Mamie Colette is definitely worth another visit.

After our lunch, it was obvious that Mama and Papa were already tired. We decided to go back to our AirBnB for their afternoon nap.

Ikle, on the other hand, would be meeting us at the AirBnB, so we can go out to do some chocolate shopping at Les Halles.

We always enjoy walking at rue Montorgueil to Les Halles. The stretch with the Hausmannian buildings was quintessential ‘Paris’.

Unfortunately for Ikle, she had a mishap with the tiled pavement as he heel got stock, and twisted her ankle. She was aching a bit, but as we barely started shopping, she just went on.

We reached Monoprix at Les Halles, and spent more than 30 minutes looking for the best deals in chocolates and biscuits.

Like most souvenir shopping, Mon took his sweet time debating which of those he’d pick. He’d go from one aisle, then to the other, only to return once more.

Upon payment, they had self-checkout counters, which initially puzzled us. We had to ask the staff twice to assist us, as the machine was ‘acting up’ (or so we thought HAHA).

From Monoprix, we walked around Les Halles some more. There, we got to see in person Le Phryge, the controversial mascot for the Paris 2024 Olympics. My regret was not entering the store to buy a souvenir.

We eventually reached Centre Pompidou. It was funny to finally see another controversial structure, as I just usually see it in my beginner French textbooks.

Beside Pompidou, we also had some churros and (despite the cold weather), a big cup of lemon shake.

Finally, I also wanted to buy some facial scrub, as my face was already shiny with dead skin cells.

We returned at the AirBnb around 6:30 pm, then eventually left again at 7:00 pm with Mama and Papa.

Our attraction for the evening was Jardin du Luxembourg. From Odéon station, we walked and walked and walked, until we reached le jardin. We didn’t have any specific activity planed there, except to just loiter and watch the sun set.

Perhaps it as the weather, but we loved Jardin du Luxembourg more than the Tuileries.

We have spent around 30 minutes just sitting down, people watching, waiting for the sunset, and doting on the fat pigeons

We did look around a bit though, most notable was the Marchand de masques statue, with the Pantheon in the background. The Pantheon was originally in our list of places to visit. But we eventually dropped it off of our list as Papa may not be into it.

The other statue we took interest of was the Statue of Marius. It was prominently featured in ‘Emily in Paris’ where Emily once stopped while jogging at Jardin du Luxembourg.

Too bad though as the shot was ruined by a scaffolding outside Le Sénat — another structure under repair during our stay in Paris.

At around 9:00 pm, we decided to finally leave Jardin du Luxembourg to look for a place to have dinner. We crossed boulevard Saint-Michel then next to rue Gay-Lussac.

We saw a samgyupsal place called “Big Bang” but, hey, we were in Paris. Why we’d have to eat samgyupsal there of all places? (The hypocrisy, though. We had at least two meals in a Vietnamese restaurant).

A couple of meters more and we spotted la Brasserie Le Gay Lussac. As long as there was something there that Papa could eat, then we just went for it.

I did see that (as of the time we were there), the review was 3.9/5 in Google Reviews.

That was a bit low, yet we still entered because I did not think Papa would tolerate few more minutes of walking without settling down at a resto. I’m all for giving restos a chance, as long as they don’t rip us off and hassle us like the resto near the Vatican City.

Ikle had beef tartare (which Mon would never try even if his life depended on it). For the others, we ordered an assortment of burgers, sausages, and also pasta. My favorite among the bunch was the charcuterie board.

While eating, it just hit me that it was already our 11th day in Europe. A few more days and the vacation would be over.

At around 10:00 pm, we decided to go home. Instead of taking the metro, we took the bus instead at boulevard Saint Michel.

My parents rather preferred to walk a bit of distance from the bus stop near rue Montorgueil than take several flights of stairs going down Luxembourg.

The following day we’d have to wake up early again, as we’d be headed to Versailles.

Steps: 16, 419