5 Days in Paris

Day 4 was hands down, my favorite day. The next time I go back to Paris, I would want to see a lot of different sights, but I would repeat this day.

We took the metro to Montmartre, which is a hilltop district that used to be the home of artists like Picasso and Dalí. Right off the metro station, we walked through Rue de Steinkerque, which is a small street with a lot of souvenir shops. I saw a lot of people buying souvenirs along this street. But you don’t need to stock up everything here. There are also very similar souvenir shops once you are on the hill.

We visited the Sacré-Cœur, which was so hauntingly beautiful. Right outside the church, you get an amazing hilltop view of the city! Sacré-Cœur also has an “observation deck” of sorts where you can climb the stairs and go up to the peak of the building.

Montmartre basically has one major loop on top of the hill, where there are a lot of boutique shops, bakeries, cafes, and artist pop-up stands. Since it was relatively busy, we ducked out and instead went to Dalí Paris, which is tucked in a quiet corner of the neighborhood. This museum was small but so interesting and fun, just like the artist himself. The museum mainly is dedicated to his sculptures and engravings, but it does have a good selection of all mediums that Dalí used. There is also a room where they have original art that you could purchase.

At the recommendation of a friend, we joined the Montmartre walking tour. Paris has a lot of free walking tours where they encourage tips at the end of the tour. We walked through the neighborhood, saw the Moulin Rouge, and learned a little bit more about the history of the neighborhood.

Then we walked down to the River Seine and waited for our river cruise. Ian wanted to do something romantic and have one of those dinner cruises. Since we are both aren’t big drinkers, we found one river cruise that didn’t include alcohol in its base package. It served a bistro-style 3-course meal while the boat took you around the Seine. If you don’t want to eat on the river cruise, Bateaux Mouches is the oldest boat company that does river tours, although there are many other options.