Tales from the Crypt...

This post involves alot of sweat....no blood but sweat...hahaha...perseverence and sweat..=P

After covering the public area of the church, we decided to do something different since ge has been here before, it's time to value add to the trip mahz. So consulting the guidebook, it said the Sacré-Cœur Crypt was worth exploring if you had the time and $$.

Crypt...OK...what do you think of when you hear the word 'crypt'? --- Dark...spooky...dead people...Underground...right????

We thought so too...but we ended up paying 5Euros each to climb a few hundred stairs to the top of Sacré-Cœur!!!!!!!! hahahaha....and no joke k, it's dark, cramped and there's no way to let people pass in that narrow stairwell...

I poked ge to walk up the stairwell in front of me. At least I know if she trips and falls I can still catch her...=) I doubt she can do much if it were reversed..WAHAHAHAHA...did I just insult myself?..hmm...hehehe...=P
Anyway, finally we surfaced from that foreboding stairwell and had to chance to walk along the rooftops! See our triumphant smiles? =D

Just like a scene out of Mary Poppins during the chimmney sweep song..hahaha

We still had to continue climbing up...this was not the end, but at least we were in the open. Back in that stairwell, we did lotsa encouragement coz there were thoughts of: What if i'm stuck here..this feels like forever...I feel my asthma coming round the corner...my legs are dying...What if the lights gave out?!? hahaha...

This stairwell is so steep you cannot see the person in front of you!!! Because i'm taller, when stretch my hand out in front, I can touch the stairs..haha..for a moment i was on fours guiding myself up..=P

Finally we reached the top!!! And this was the first thing we saw!!...*blink blink*

See how high we are!...people on da street were like ants!

After all the hard work, we spent alot of time up here, taking in the views, resting and relaxing...=) We only bumped into the occassional tourist or two.

See the Effiel tower? =)

We were at the top dome of Sacré-Cœur and this gave us a 360 degree panoramic views of south Paris! =)

You can see my messier than ever hair mixed with pespiration in the pic below...took me several minutes to return to 'normal' temperature..AHHAHA...

It was a narrow circular passageway and the walls were scrawled with graffitti (No pens used. All you need is to scratch and there would be a clear mark due to the type of stone used to build Sacré-Cœur)...the oldest one I saw dated to 1965! I'm sure there were older ones though..

Sacré-Cœur is built of travertine stone. This stone constantly exudes calcite, which ensures that the basilica remains white even with weathering and pollution. Which i guess explains why the photos produced sepia like shots naturally...so cool hor...

The foundation stone was laid in 1875 and only completed in 1914.

This photo is dedicated to our feet who served us well even though we were so unfit...hahaha...I was panting like crazy when we reached the top! Aiyah..i somehow have a tendency to hold my breath/ minimise my breathing when I climb...

Humph..pay to exercise...what's this man...

Gargoyles here too! You can see the Montparnasse (left) and Effiel towers in this photo. Montparnasse is a commercial building that was such an eye sore after it was built (really a modern building out of no where) there were building laws on height limits after that...(which I read is soon to be revised unfortunately...)

Pic above shows the area of Sacré-Cœur...which has been featured in films such as 2001 french film Amélie and Sabrina starring Audrey Hepburn.

It is also the choice of scenery in several music videos...And if you are a Savage Garden fan, this is where the music video "Truly Madly Deeply" mainly featured, besides other parts of Paris.

Yes..dont' I look so serious here..ahhaha...I didn't even know when she took this picture!!

Meet the last bit of food we had on us. Yep, one last cube of Kinder Bueno.

I told ge while she was focussing her cam to take a photo of it: "You know ah, after the entire tracking up here, and if we were to be trapped in this dome (one entrance/ exit only)...this would be our last morsel of food leh..."

She gobbled it up without hesitation. (hahaha...I make her sound evil. =P)

Above: This is the everyday Angela that most people know of...composed, mature and collected.

Then we have the cute side of her...hahaha...I enjoyed taking this pic..it was so cute..HAHAHA.

I'm trying to fit into the same narrow ledge that Angela is sitting on lor..HAHAHA...really not possible lah..she's of a smaller build than me..=)

And with this fact it also amazes me that my hands are the same size as her's lor!!! WAHAHHA...

We wave an 'I love you!' goodbye to the Paris skyline!!!

And return to another narrow stairwell to ...*gulp*...who knows where...after all, the sign that said 'crypt' brought us here...you just can't trust the sign boards here anymore man! =P

And i just needed to prove a point how narrow it was! =)

We walked over soem passageways on the roof, encountering a dead pigeon in the middle of the path. Thank God we not that sqeamish eh?...hahaha...

So the stairs just kept going down....hmm...I actually got bit tired climbing down..AHAHHAAH...

So where did we end up?? =P