Arriving in Paris

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I got off the train at Gare du Nord, in Paris, after my spur of the moment decision the night before and had absolutely no idea where I was, or how to get anywhere. The obvious decision would have been to have taken the metro as I was in a train station but I wanted to go outside and see what it was like. There was a streetmap on the bus stop outside so I studied that for a while and sort of worked out which way Sacre Couer was but I was still endeavouring not to look like a tourist so didn't want to stay staring at the map too long. Looking back now it was pretty obvious that I am not in fact Parisian, but anyway.
I did eventually find Sacre Couer and saw a lot of back streets and normal French life along the way as I went the 'scenic route', as I was completely lost, but luckily I was headed to the top of the only mountain in Paris.
It was weird up there when I finally arrived, the Sacre Couer is stunning but the view of Paris was not at all what I was expecting. It was very brown, and very uniform. The Eiffel tower looked tiny and as I hadn't been anywhere else yet so didn't recognise anything it was slightly disappointing.
I then walked down the road to the Moulin Rouge before I went and rested my feet and found where I was staying for the night.

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Photos

View of Paris
This is the view overlooking Paris from directly outside the Sacre Couer.

Moulin Rouge
Down the hill at the Moulin Rouge. I was tricked by Hollywood again and expected this to be more glamorous and not another in a long line of strip joints.

La Marmite
Just down the road from the Moulin Rouge I saw this cafe and it made me think of home.