Paris: hotel and Basilique du Sacré-Cœur

This was the view from our balcony. Our hotel was in Montmartre which turned out to be ideal as the area is very picturesque, it is 10 minutes walk from the Gare du Nord, and there are lots of places to eat and drink. We stayed in this hotel, it is a budget hotel (59 euros per night!) that had been recommended to friends of ours who stayed there and who then recommended it to us. It is very much a budget hotel, not a place that would be right for everyone (like my parents would not enjoy it there!), and it is not suitable if you are on your honeymoon or some other 'trip of a life-time', but for a budget quick visit type accommodation it was excellent. It was very clean, it felt very safe, it was in a good area, and the family running it seemed lovely. We paid something like 4 euros more per night to have a balcony and a shower in the room which was well worth it. Even though it was freezing I spent as much time as possible on the balcony watching the Paris ladies walking their little dogs.

Montmartre is so lovely. There was a tiny bit of hassle around the bottom of the steps of the Sacré-Cœur with a few people jostling for tourists money but the view was incredible. We were up there just as the bell was ringing out on Sunday evening. Magical.