montmartre

too lazy to metro it to the other side of paris, i instead chucked on some good walking shoes (aka thongs..) and walked my way across around montmartre. i figured i might as well get to know the quartier where i'm living for the next five months...

i started with place émile goudeau, where i found le bateau lavoir - the old studio apartment where artists, writers & actors lived and work in the early 1900s. it's more a museum these days - but back in the early 20th century, picasso, matisse & braque (plus others belonging to the cubist club) lived here. 

then down along rue des abbesses/rue lepic - prob montmartre's most famous/busiest streets - with cafés, restaurants, boutiques, fromageries & more boulangeries than i could poke a stick at.

if anyone's familiar with the much adored & very french film amélie, then you'll recognise the café des deux moulins - a real café where the movie was filmed. couldn't resist popping in for a coffee...

at the bottom of rue lepic is the famous moulin rouge. the real thing is disappointingly not as impressive as baz lurhmann's (there's definitely no elephant), but it's still paris' most famous cabaret & i can't deny that's its v pretty at dusk with the indigo sky against the illuminated, spinning red windmill. 

another windmill is le moulin de la galette, much higher up on the hill, an old mill-turned-restaurant that's been there for centuries. around napolean's time in the early 1800s, the mill was attacked and the miller was killed & nailed to the wings of the windmill. that's charming french history for you.

was so peaceful to wander around the immense cimetière de montmartre. even though the cemetery has street names & area codes, i managed to lose myself amongst the fancy stone & marble gravestones. too clever.

another famous cabaret is le lapin agile, which used to be a common chill-space for artists in the late 1800s. it's just next to the clos de montmartre, paris' last surviving vineyard. it's so strange seeing such a large area of land that isn't built up in apartments...

place du tertre, my favourite spot in paris (so far!). it's the "artist's square", where you can get your portrait sketched by street artists, or else browse other artists' landscapes of paris. it's almost an outdoor art gallery - but even better, because you can do all this while eating a strawberry & nutella crêpe (bought from any one of the surrounding cafés, resto's, patisseries, etc). sacré coeur is just next door, so i walked on over. i've been here a few times already (i do live just around the corner, after all..), but i could never be bothered actually going inside. this time i went inside the basilica - it's beautiful (especially as there was only a handful of other people inside at the time), minus the million+1 crucified jesus's everywhere you look...

finished up the day with a mouthwatering strawberry sorbet from place du tertre. omnom! here's a bunch of phots i snapped throughout the day. it's only fitting that you listen to the song below while you look at them. 

bisous,

S.

church of saint-jean de montmartre

bottlecap-esque design; church of saint-jean de montmartre 

amélie poulain's 'café des deux moulins'

montmartre cemetery

kittens!

interesting choice of gravestone

rue lepic

le moulin de la galette

place de marcel aymé - the man who can walk thru walls

spot the difference

le lapin agile

clos de montmartre - paris' last vineyard

clos de montmartre

spice market between place du tertre & sacré coeur

place du tertre