Parisians and tourists tried to beat the heat on Monday by seeking shade and flocking to air conditioned museums, as temperatures in the French capital reached 44 degrees Celsius (111.2 Fahrenheit). France is gritting its teeth for a week of record-busting temperatures, sweltering under a heat wave that combines daytime highs above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) and sleep-robbing sweaty nights.