Walk 16: Montmartre, St. Denis and other Legends

Monday May 30

It was another beautiful day today and I was dying to go to Sacre Coeur. I had never seen it before, and its one of the required walks. When we got there we climbed ALL the stairs, rather than taking the little cable car things. It made the RB stairs look like a cake walk. Unfortunately, by the time I got to a point where I could actually see the basilica, there were so many people and I was too close to get a good picture. They don't let you take pictures inside either. So instead, here is a picture of the view from the top. It was incredible.

 

I am definitely planning on returning very soon to have a picnic here. 

Next we saw the Eglise Saint-Pierre which has been a parish church since 1147.

 

Right outside the church there are tons of artists that will draw your portrait right there, and just a little ways farther there was a big market of artists selling their paintings. The directions told us it was a tourist trap and to walk past it..but honestly I wish I had looked around a little :)

 

The rest of the walk took us through the streets of Montmartre to various homes of prominent artists. If you are interested in seeing Toulouse Lautrec originals there is also a Museum at 12 Rue Cortot called the Musee du vieux Montmartre. It costs about 6 euros I think. The house itself is the oldest in Montmartre. 

Here are some of the cool houses in the area:

this is the oldest cabaret in Paris, called Au Lapin Agile.

La Maison Rose was one of Picasso's favorite restaurants.

this is the road that Renoir lived on.

St. Denis was beheaded by the Romans in the 3rd century, then carried his head down the North side of Montmartre before collapsing. (according to legend)

so many cute houses everywhere!

Not sure what this is but I laughed.

Many famous artists including Picasso lived in the apartments here at this former piano factory. Bateau-Lavoir means 'laundry boat'.

montmartre has a wonderful view!

this is where van gogh lived!

Moulin de la Galette

This windmill became a popular outdoor dance hall, which Renoir captured beautifully in the painting below. Now there is a restaurant there. 

Renoir's Bal du Moulin de la Galette

After this we were on a search for the Moulin Rouge and ended up going the wrong direction. We stopped for some smoothies along the way at a place called smooth in the city (11 rue des Abbesses) It was a way hip little place with like vegan muffins and all natural smoothies. The smoothies are not thick like jamba juice, all they do is put the fruits through a juicer and then blend the juices together. It was pretty expensive but oh so tasty.

Then finally..

The famous Moulin Rouge nightclub..you can still see cabaret shows there today although I probably would never go there myself. This is a bad area of town and I would not want to be walking around here alone at night, during the day its ok. Ps. If you have not seen the movie with Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor go watch it right now. (after you watch midnight in paris of course.)

xoxo Heather