Unlike our winter visit to Paris where our apartment’s heat wasn’t quite working, our summer hotel rooms were SO HOT! Unfortunately, we landed in Paris in the middle of a heat wave, and our budget found us two rooms on the 5th floor of a small hotel in the Montmartre area of the city. But, by now we were getting used to making the best of not-ideal situations and we were also determined to take in the city since it was our last chance.
First up, we walked to see the Moulin Rouge then wound our way up the hills to Place du Tertre, an area where artists have set up their easels and sold their paintings for years. Here is also where you can pay to have a portrait painted or a caricature sketch done. On the way back to the hotel to take a break from the heat, we walked past the Wall of Love and stayed to get a photo. This wall has “I Love You” written in 250 languages.
After a break in our sweaty rooms (at least the sun wasn’t beating on us), we dragged our butts out again and walked up the long staircase to the Basilique du Sacre-Coeur de Montmartre for sunset. There were many, many people on the grounds, sitting on the stairs, and enjoying time together. Vendors were secretly selling beer, and the whole area had a jovial feel. The church is enormous. We chose not to go inside but to just enjoy the views of the city, the setting sun, and the cooling of the air.
Our second full day was another HOT one. We chose to stay at the hotel for the morning, get some school work done, and then head out in the afternoon closer to dinner to see the Champs-Elysees, the Arc de Triomphe, and the Eiffel Tower. It worked well. By the time we started walking along the Champs from the Place de la Concorde, the sun was low enough to cast shadows on one side of the street. We were able to stay in the shade and window shop along the way. When we reached the Arc, it was massive! We walked under the road to get to the base, but didn’t pay to go inside.
From there, we caught the metro to the Eiffel Tower, grabbed some food from a grocery store, and parked ourselves in the park for a picnic. We had pre-booked entry time to go up to the observation deck of the tower for 5:30, so we made our way through security by that time and started to climb the stairs. It was a long way up! We did it, though, and really enjoyed the views of the city. The best part of the climb was the constant breeze that blew on us and kept us cool enough to stave off the dripping sweat. I may sound dramatic, but it was really hot out!
Once down, we decided (it was a long, family debate) to stay to see the tower’s light show that was supposed to happen on the hour, every hour, after sunset. We found some cold drinks and a spot along the river from which to watch. It happened to be the area where the tunnel starts where Princess Diana had her car accident. We hadn’t planned to see it, be we spotted the memorial statue. Anyway, we were disappointed to discover that, since sunset was after 9:00 pm, the first show would be at 10:00 pm. We weren’t willing to wait, so we went home somewhat disappointed.
We woke to an even hotter day but felt confident we’d be comfortable on the two trains we’d booked to get us South to Carcassonne. Nope. Our first train leg was fine – Paris to Bordeaux. Our second train, Bordeaux to Carcassonne, was not functioning properly and the air conditioner was broken in our car. We got an hour into the five-hour ride when the staff invited us to find seats in a different car. Sadly, that car was also not functioning well. We had sweat beads running down our arms and legs just sitting still! We moved a third time and were able to cope for the remainder of the journey.
Once in Carcassonne, we had a 15-minute walk to our rental apartment. It was up a few flights of stairs and, sadly, not air-conditioned. That’s not entirely true. There was a single wall-mounted unit in the living room but it was underpowered for the size of the apartment. We dropped our bags, had some water, and went in search of an air-conditioned restaurant for dinner. It was certainly more pleasant to walk around the town at night, but still not cool. By bedtime, the apartment was cooler but the bedrooms were still very hot so we moved bed mattresses to the living room and camped out on the floor, desperate for a cool night’s sleep.
The city of Carcassonne contains an incredible example of a medieval citadel, for which it has earned a UNESCO Heritage designation. The fortified city still operates as a village inside its walls with mostly tourism services. We got up early enough to reach the gate for opening time in hopes of seeing much of the city before the day got too hot. Our first stop was the visitor’s centre where we bought a scavenger hunt game for us to solve while seeing all of the key spots in the city. We had a few tough puzzles to solve, but were victorious in the end! We also found a restaurant with a view of the towers and walls for lunch; a perfect way to end our outing.
We found some freshly made pastries for our train ride to Spain. So yummy!!!!! Oh, and the heat wave broke, a little bit.