Day 41 ~ City on a Hill

I’m sure Paris is full of charming neighborhoods, but today we visited the most charming we will visit on this trip. We went to Montmartre. This area had the most distinctive character of anywhere we’ve been in the city yet, and really reminded us of some of the elegant small cities we’ve been to around Europe, like Utrecht or Bruges. We could have spent weeks here – in fact, this is the neighborhood where Daniel stayed during his monthlong trip to France in 1999. Of course we had to cruise the outside of the apartment. After 25 years of the neighborhood (and Dan) changing, this old door on this old block lives on in Dan’s memories.

We visited a park he’d spent some time in, and they were filming a movie there!

…but the other parts of the park, like most of that neighborhood, looked a lot nicer than they did in 1999.

What we’ve seen of Paris is a very flat city – hardly any hills, and only tall buildings afford you much of a view. Montmartre is actually on a hill, and at the top of this hill is the Basilica of Sacre Coeur cathedral. You can actually take a funicular to the top – although one of the two wasn’t running, the line was long, and we easily could have walked to the top in half the time we spent waiting. Still, like a child, Stef wanted to ride the funicular, so we did.

From the top, the whole city spreads out below. It really is an absolutely massive (and flat) city. It was neat to try to pick out some of the places we had been.

The cathedral itself was a graceful beauty. There was a line outside, which was a surprise, and we were annoyed until we got inside and learned they were keeping crowds down because they were holding an actual service in there. They requested no photos, although Stef snapped a couple before she saw the sign (sorry, parishioners). Best of all was a nun leading a hymn that has a voice that is a gift from God. Beautiful.

We considered taking the stairs to the top cupola for 360 degree views of the city, but the day was pretty hazy and 300+ stairs is a lot to march up for an uncertain reward. We were pleased to go around the back of the cathedral, and there are some cool views of it back there. The best view was this accordion busker, who suckered us into turning over all our spare change in response to his hustle: A very contented-looking cat perched on his shoulder.

We walked around the back hunting for views of the other side of the hill, but we only found the beautiful back of the Basilica and this beautiful park.

We did our usual bumbling around trying to decide about lunch. We headed to the Vigne du Clos Montmartre, Paris’s oldest and still-working vineyard! It’s tiny, not even a city block, but gorgeous with flowers between the vines. We were not there to eat grapes for lunch. Stef’s research told her that the annual grape harvesting festival would start today – lucky us! – and we wanted to see what would be involved. Sadly, when we got there, the signs said the festival would be next week. Guess the grapes aren’t ripening on schedule. Still, a lovely place to visit, even if we’re not allowed inside. No sour grapes here.

We headed to Place de Tetre, which is hugely famous as a place where painters sell art to eager tourists – sometimes pieces they’ve already painted and are stockpiling, sometimes portraits and caricatures while you wait, all kinds of art things. It’s also riddled with cafes with outdoor seating, and is a pretty nice place to spend time even if also quite touristy. We had a crepe and a croque monsieur for lunch, and picked up a couple of small and portable paintings for our new basement space.

We wandered through some of the old streets on the hills behind the Basilica. Every one held some small delight from the tasteful houses to the turning ivy leaves to a thriving indie bookstore. What a charming hidden neighborhood.

We headed on, looking for the Moulin de la Galette. Moulin is francais for mill, and Montmartre had been home to 14 windmills before it grew into a town. Today only two of them are left, and they are right next to each other. One is in a park that unfortunately appeared to be closed to visitors today. The other towers over a restaurant with sidewalk seating, a little patio, an elegant dining room, and a charming terrace out back. We really weren’t hungry, but sat on the patio and had coffee and a little crepe Suzette to just get to spend some time there. Also, we learned we love crepe Suzette – it has a sauce of sugar, orange and lemon that is just addictive. Two thumbs up.

We wandered down the Rue Lepic, one of the more well-traveled streets in Montmartre. There was a lot of charm to it, and we had some easter eggs along the way. One was this stunning little street with its outrageously beautiful houses:

We also walked by the apartment where Vincent van Gogh’s brother Theo lived. We’ve seen it touted as a place Vincent lived for a couple of months, but that sounds to me like this broke-ass artist was crashing on his brother’s couch. Still, fun to imagine both of them there.

Rue Lepic was a ton of fun to window shop around, and we just enjoyed being in a mostly car-free area with lots to admire.

We headed down the hill a bit to Café des Deux Moulins, which was the setting for the movie Amelie, which we’ve both loved so much. Fabulously, it was virtually unchanged to serve as the movie set, and really looks just as it did in the film. You can very much picture Dominique Pinon glowering in a corner.

And of course we had to walk by the Moulin Rouge. When in Rome.

The Moulin Rouge, famed for its extravagance and class, had this cute and humble little mosaic on the sidewalk out front.

We wanted to see more of the Rue Lepic, so we retraced our steps. This was actually all a ploy – Stef had seen a Saint Honore patisserie in a shop window, and couldn’t stop thinking about it, so we went back and bought it. Did not disappoint. We ate it in front of the beautiful exterior of the Saint Jean church, a mere 100 years old.

This was a fascinating church. It was very beautiful in its own way but it unlike any of the other (many many) churches we’ve seen.

For starters, it was all wood and paint instead of marble and mosaics. Mostly black and dim colors instead of whites. It was full of complex patterns like Islamic geometries and Celtic knots. The stained glass was full of dragons and castles…

But the stained glass reached its zenith with this surreal composition of a skeleton knight and his unicorn!

So, the church of Saint Jean is an underdog but it stands out from the large field of better-funded churches.

We visited the Wall of Love, which was certainly well-attended, and delivered messages of love as promised.

And that was it for Montmartre, although we would have loved to stay longer. We hopped on the metro and zipped home. We had some wonderful pizza out on our little balcony, from a guy who gave us a free Dr. Pepper.

That was the day!