Exploring Montmartre

I have a friend, Allison, that is staying with a family for the year near Sacre Coeur. I called her up this afternoon to see if she wanted to have a coffee and maybe show me around her neighborhood a little bit. I rode the 4 train almost to the end of the line (I start at the far south end, and I went almost all the way north), and then she met me at the station. She took me to her appartment and introduced me to the people she is staying with Thomas and Malika, who are both very nice, and have a fab place to live. Then Allison and I walked around until we found stairs up to Sacre Coeur.

Sacre Coeur translates to Sacred Heart, and is a large white church that is up a huge hill on the north end of Paris. If you are 4 floors or higher in just about any northfacing window you can see the church. We climbed up several sets of stairs and were treated to an incredible view of Paris. The church itself is gorgeous as well. It has gorgeous white domes, and the front is very striking. We didn't go inside, as I was all churched out from Poitiers, but we spent some time enjoying the view.

We had coffee next, at a little cafe that was near the funicular up the hill (which I want to try sometime) and then we wandered around the neighborhood, Montmartre. Montmartre is famous because it is where a lot of famous artists lived at the turn of the century. Among many notables were Toulous Lautrec, Picasso, and Van Gogh. The neighborhood is very cute. It is lots of winding narrow streets that we found hard to naviage, even with a map. We happened upon a lot of cute places though, so it was worth getting lost.

At the base of the big hill is the neighborhood Pigalle, which is the red light district of Paris. We didn't go into the neighborhood, but we did walk west along the outskirts. After a few blocks we came upon the Moulin Rouge, the famous night club. It doesn't look all that spectacular, although the moulin (windmill) on the roof is quite large. We poked our heads in for a minute before grabbing milkshakes at the Quick (fast food place like McDonald's, more abundant than McDonald's too), before parting ways.

It was fun to wander around Montmartre, and I'm pretty sure it's my favorite neighborhood so far. I like the narrow streets and cafes that are on every single corner. Maybe I'll hunt down a good cafe that I can study at this winter!

Pictures:

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