Sunday, June 29, 2008 was our return to British soil...

but not without another stop in Paris at the Sacre Coeur (Sacred Heart) Basilica. Behind us and to the right, outside of the picture is the first path up toward the Basilica. It was quite the walk all the way to the top. And by then I didn't feel inclined to go inside. Of our whole stay in Paris I would have to say that this was the least impressive to me. Not for any reason but the grounds were littered and the path most of the way up smelled like it had been used as a urinal. So going inside just didn't appeal to me once we got up to the top.

Here we are at street level.



I do think this is a pretty cool picture though



Could you imagine hiking up the stairs every week to attend church services there? And this isn't even from street level.



The next 4 pictures are the views of Paris as seen from different levels of the path up to the Basilica.









On our way down from the Basilica we encounter "Un chat noir". I took a picture of him because we kept seeing souvenirs of "Tournee du chat noir", which seems be a a poster that advertised Le chat noir, a cabaret in Paris back in the 19th century (opened by an artist, Rodolphe Salis). I just thought seeing this black cat at the Basilica, which is in the same area of Paris (Montmartre) as the cabaret. We didn't look for the cabaret though. Beneath the pictures I took of the black cat at the Basilica is the poster I mentioned. I (the consummate catlover that I am) bought a tshirt and matching socks that had it on them at a souvenir shop we stopped in.









After that, we did some souvenir shopping on the street that leads down hill from the front of the Basilica and stopped and had something to drink at a cafe. It was an enjoyable break after the trip up to and down from the Basilica. And then, back on the bus and back to Calais, France to take the ferry back to Dover, England. Onboard the ferry, we played Uno and Deb and I had beer. I didn't feel so good after drinking the beer. Not really sick but quite woozy. It doesn't help to not have sea legs AND to be slightly inebriated by ONE beer with a higher alcohol content than what I am used to.