On the way back from India last week, I had a 7.5-hour layover at the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. I arrived at 6am and then rushed through passport control to the train station (which is conveniently attached to the airport). I took a train to Gare du Nord and walked to Sacré Coeur to take a quick tour and snap some pictures. I had planned to make this my only stop, wandering around Montmartre a bit until I found a grocery store where I could get a stash of Cruesli au Chocolat cereal. But before long it turned into a challenge to see how many sights I could see before I needed to head back to the airport. I didn’t want to spend more money on a subway pass, so this was all on foot and took about three hours. I mapped it out on mappedometer.com and it looks like it was about 5 1/2 miles.

Paris at 6am

Along Boulevard de la Chapelle

On the steps leading to La Basilique du Sacré Cœur de Montmartre

Ceiling of Sacré-Coeur – Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (dove in the middle)

Peter and the keys

Rue du Mont Cenis

The poster says “Making love is good. With me it’s better”

Spooky lamp – Montmartre

Graffiti along Rue du Calvaire in Montmartre area

Pirate at La Taverne de Montmartre

Opéra (as in Phantom of the)

Cute little Poste mobile

Place Vendome

Arc du Triomphe du Carrousel, between the Louvre and the Jardin des Tuileries

The Louvre Pyramid and Cruesli

Tuileries Garden – Eiffel Tower in the distance

Cruesli and the Eiffel Tower

Place de la Concorde

On the subway – accordion player in the distance

I was already kind of cutting it close to get back to the airport by the time I heard this band performing in the Chatelet train station, but I had to stop and get a quick video. I tracked down the band name later, which is Les Musiciens de Lviv, a Ukrainian band that has been playing Paris metro stations for years.