Montmartre, Reprise

If it feels to you like things are slowing down for us here, there's good reason.  Today we had a leisurely revisit of "the butte", the hill that gives Montmartre half of its name.  But this time we skipped the basilica and had a closer look at some places we skipped over the first time.  First on the list was the question of how does one actually get to the basilica?  If you approach from the north, as we did the first time, you walk through the neighborhood or ride one of two buses.  But if you come from the south, you either climb the stairs (on the left), especially if you have an over-energized 12-year-old calling the shots, or you take the "funicular" (on the right).  Guess which category we found ourselves in?

 

If you saw the movie Amelie, released in the U.S. in 2001, you might recognize this little place, just a block or so away from Place Tertre, where the artists are ready to capture your likeness for a mere 20 or 30 euros.





Or if you're an art lover, and know the work of Maurice Utrillo, this one might look familiar (La Maison Rose, The Pink House):

Utrillo was one of several artists who used what is now known as the Montmartre Museum, where you can see the oldest house in Montmartre

and visit the Gardens of Renoir, where he painted La Balançoir, one of his many famous pieces.  The garden swing that figures in the painting is still there.

Tomorrow, our goals are to hear two of the grandest organs of Paris and to find out why they call it the City of Light.