Raining again, so we wandered back to Place de Tertre, and watched the artists, and the




art watchers, over several cups of coffee.


At lunchtime we moved to a restaurant where we could continue to watch . . .




. . . and finally had the superb French cooking I'd been dreaming of.




monkfish and suckling pig

Well, you've got to, haven't you? We went on CityTour, which runs several routes and has a commentary.

The northern route, up to the edge of Montmartre, was fairly pointless for us, but we went on it by mistake.







The eastern route starts at Notre Dame. It included the Bastille and the Arsenal and lots of views of the river.








So by the time we got on the western route, which covers the main sights, it was all beginning to blur.



We missed out the southern route completely. Just had a disappointing meal and back to the hotel.

Took an evening stroll up to Sacre Coeur, which looks fabulous by night as well as by day.

Spent a day exploring Montmartre. First Sacre Coeur, of course.





Turned out the street sellers at the overlook were actually extras in a movie, so we watched them being chased by police for a while.



Had a ride on the very touristy “Little White Train of Montmartre”, the only motorised tour still allowed round the steep, narrow streets. It runs from Place de Tertre to the Moulin Rouge, and back.





Then ended the day at a cafe in the Place de Tertre, watching the portrait painters tout for trade.

More expensive coffee, but a reasonable meal.

It's time we took advantage of being on the continent, so we went to Paris for a couple of days.









Stayed at a quintessentially French hotel just below Sacre Coeur.

The local bus took us on a switchback ride up and down the precipitous Montmartre streets.


Then expensive coffee and a really bad meal at a typical Parisian cafe - little round tables and spindly chairs.



View over Paris roofs from the hotel room

We found our leak - the rubber thingy that connects the raw water from the gear box oil cooler to the main engine heat exchanger.



Now we just have to get a new one.

The Belgian agent for Bowman want €34.

From ASAP it's £16 including delivery.

Not a difficult decision.