une journée à Montmartre

Tuesday, 5 June 2012

The best way to turn your morning in Montmartre into an afternoon and evening affair is to sleep until noon. Jet lag, short nights, walking days, and a whirl wind tour of Normandy knocked us all out for the morning. 

Sacré-Cœur

Abbesses Station on the 12 line is a 45 minute ride from Bolougne Jean Juares, just enough time to finish off the pastries and strawberry tarte from Le Patisserie a block from the hotel. A long ascent of the stations spiral stairs and a walk down Rue Yvonne Le Tac puts us at the Funiculaire, an escalator rail car that takes you up nearly 100 meters to the base of the stairs of The Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris, or Sacré-Cœur. It is a "modern" Roman Catholic cathedral completed in 1914 that overlooks the whole of Paris in spectacular fashion.

An adjacent church, Paroisse Saint Pierre de Montmartre was completed around 1170 and more relfective of the medieval village that makes up the rest of Montmartre.

Scrumptous Cafe and Hot Chocolat

"The hot chocolate here is scrumptious" Joelle exclaims getting close to double digits sampled across France. I have been thinking the same think about the coffee. If you ask for a coffee near tourists they bring something large like you would get in the States. If you ask anywhere off the beaten path you get an espresso. I know ask for a "petite cafe" just to make sure they know I want cafe as the French drink it. We all agree with Jo, whatever your drinking it is scrumptious.

A plaza full of artists are eager to sketch your likeness to paper for 70 to 90 Euros. Some of them are shockingly good. All have a different sytle and approach to their craft. It is fascinating to watch a face emerge from the charcoal on a piece of paper in 30 minutes. We commission one of the girls and one of ourselves in honor of our 20 year anniversary. Our artist is expert at working with your best qualities and takes about 20 years off our likeness. I like this guy!

Arriving around 3 pm and staying until 10 pm, we thoroughly enjoyed une journée à Montmartre.

A few photos highlighting the day: