If you are going to Sacre Coeur by Metro, you will certainly come across these steps as they lead you to the Cathedral.
But this is also the steps that were seen in the action movie Ronin starring Robert Dinero and Jean Reno.
After getting out of Abbesses station, directly behind the entrance is Park Square Jehan-Rictus.
I noticed tons of people going there to take pictures and then I saw the
Le Mur des Je t’aime or the I love you wall.
http://www.lesjetaime.com/english/index.html
After Montparnasse, we went down Gare Montparnasse station.
We were on our way to Sacre’ Coeur.
the Metro 12 was a straight shot. We would get off at Abbesses station.
Once we got off at Abbesses station, it was seriously like 8 flights of spiral stairs! But it was beautiful on the way up!
Finally reached outside. There was a nice carousel and fresh crepes right there.
Montparnasse Tower is the 3rd largest building in Paris. Eiffel Tower being 1st.
Montparnasse offers some rally good views.
From Invalides station, we jumped on the Metro 13 to Montparnasse station.
Once we got out, we went straight for the entrance to the Montparnasse observation deck.
The lady there said to come back at 3pm because it is not clear right now. So we went to the Jardin du Luxembourg and the Pantheon.
After that, we decided to head back, instead of walking like we did, we jumped on the bus. Again, a good idea to have that book of passes because the ticket also counts for the bus.
Once we got back to Montparnasse Tower, there was a long line because of middle and high school student groups (I believe they had the week off). Not too much of a wait and we got to the top indoor floor. Where you could go get some good views from inside and behind the glass.
If you wanted to outside views, you would take a few flights of stairs to the top. Very nice views, it was cold and in the middle, people were “ice” skating (which I found out later is only white plastic).
After enjoying the Luxembourg Garden, we wanted to see the Pantheon, which is a few blocks away. We walked a bit further.
The Pantheon is inspired by the Pantheon in Rome.
The Pantheon here is a mausoleum for some famous French people and enlightened thinkers such as Voltaire.
We took the Metro to Montparnasse station to go up the Montparnasse tower.
This was early morning and the lady there said, comeback at 3pm because it is still not clear (foggy that morning).
So we started to walk towards Jardin du Luxembourg.
This is one of Paris’ largest public open spots. It was chilly, but very nice.
2 out of 37 bridges that cross the Seine.
The Seine was very high as there were storms the previous week.
Pont des Invalides is next to Pont Alexander III.
Pont Alexander III is one of the most ornate bridges in Paris, very famous and everyone takes pictures there.
Forum Les Halles is an open shopping mall. Chatelet Les Halles is the train station in the bottom for the RER.
I took these shots on my last trip to Noisy Le Grand for the 2nd day of Conference.
In the 9th arrondissment of Paris, You will find the Galeries Lafayette. It is a huge upscale department store. Very busy.
While the department store is great to find clothes and other things, across the street is kinda like their food court/food department store.
The coolest thing I found was this shop selling spices… my nose actually caught the smell and let me tell you, I’ve had a bad sense of smell for a while (since working in a factory with harsh chemicals and powders).
Also across the street and around the block is the Academy of Music and Opera. This is also one of the main subway stations, Opera.
After the 3 day Paris Pass expires, we still had a few days left and we were gonna be using the metro alot.
Again, this was a tip from Jay Swanson’s youtube videos, https://www.youtube.com/user/Cadelfwch.
It is convenient to get a book of tickets (10 passes), it is slightly cheaper than buying every time and in our case, we went through them like water.
If you are staying within Paris inner zone, these are the what you will use for Metro, but and other public transportation.