Montmartre

Today, a bitingly cold but brilliantly sunny day, we decided to walk around Montmartre. We used the Metro to get to Blanche, and followed two of the walks in the pack that friend Tracy gave us. It was interesting to see the various places that famous artists hung out, not to mention Amelie's tabac and merry-go-round!

Much of the route was awash with tourists. The Montmartre area is just too popular. The area near Sacre Coeur cathedral is infested with overpriced and crummy cafes and souvenir shops. We had a coffee and hot chocolate at one of these - the price was high but the quality was OK (trying to order the cappucino as "strong" in French was a failure), and as a bonus, we managed to get one of the few seats they had in the feeble sunshine. The artists market in the square at St. Pierre de Montmartre is quite interesting, but not too many Renoirs or Picassos were apparent there. Plenty of sketch artists were there willing to capture your likenesses though. Based on cameras and maps, almost everyone up here seems to be a tourist, although most of them were French tourists. It was Saturday, after all.

Sacre Coeur cathedral dominates its location of course, and was exceeedingly crowded inside. Can it be like this every day here? Guards posted inside were making sure we did not take photographs or fail to remove our hats. Outside this cathedral is, of course, the place to see the view of the classic "rooftops of Paris" (photo).

We went off the tourist track to find a place for lunch (well, whatever the meal would be called at 3pm). Many places were closed, but we finally picked a good place in the Rue Ravignan, and had a very enjoyable meal. The cafe was quiet when we arrived, but by the time we left it was packed, which means either that we dragged the customers in, or that it was time for the afternoon apperitif.

To work off the meal, we decided to walk back to the Marais. This was a great choice, and we found places like the Rues des Martyrs, de Fauberg Montmartre and de Montmartre were fascinating. We stumbled on a street fair in Cadet, where they had live music and gave away heated, spiced wine which we and many others greatly appreciated (photo). The large pedestrian mall area at Les Halles/Chatelet must be one of Paris' attempts to control traffic, and it was really vibrant. This is nice and close to the Marais and we'll go back there.