2015.05.10 Montmartre and Sacre-Coeur Basilica (Paris, France)

Montmartre was once the neighbourhood to live, work, and gather for artists, musicians, and those living the bohemian lifestyle. Picasso lived here, so did Dali, Monet, Modigliani, and Van Gogh. The seedy underbelly, this was also were dance halls like the Moulin Rouge populated.

Unaffected by Haussmann's renovation (the reason why the buildings in Paris all look so uniform), the district has retained its historic architecture and authentic atmosphere. 

Although much gentrified, the pickpocketing rate in Montmartre is still relatively higher than the rest of Paris, or so I've been told.

Did I mention the entire neighbourhood is on one huge hill? 

The name Montmartre meaning "Mountain of the Martyr." The martyr, in this case, being Saint Denis. Remember him? The one who got his head cut off and carried it for a while? Montmartre is supposedly where the ugly business went down.

Not wanting to climb too many stairs, we forsook the more popular metro stop Pigalle for Larmarck-Caulaincourt.  

And up the hill we went, towards the Basilique du Sacre-Coeur ("Basilica of Sacred Heart")

The views along the way.

As we neared the basilica,  tourists, shops, and cafe all started to appear in droves.

Seeing how my travel companions have never had a macaron before, I bought one for them to try.

Verdict: somewhat enjoyable but not something they would actively seek out.

Ice cream was far more to their liking. I had the crepe jambon ("ham").

Like many other tourists, we sat on the curb and just watched the crowd go by as we enjoyed our much-deserved treats. 

At one point, there was almost a pigeon situation but my glare of death quickly neutralized the threat. 

Place du Tertre

Where artists display and sell their work.

Some were actually not bad.

And, there it was - Sacre-Coeur

Comparatively, this church is very young in age, having only opened in 1914.

The views. Not too shabby.

Photography was not allowed in the church, so this wikipedia-sourced photo will have to do.

 Look at that beautiful mosaic ceiling.

We were quite lucky to be able to witness an ongoing service. Hearing the church choir sing definitely made the entire experience even better.

And the climb down begun. You had two choices: steep but straight or gradual but zig-zag. As you can see, we started off with the zig-zag.

But switched as we quickly realized that the zig-zag staircase was not not at all level

(I'm guessing to prevent rain water from pooling?)

I guess we now know where all the Parisians go on a sunny Sunday.

On our way to the metro station, we had our first Wallace Fountain encounter.

Founded by Sir Richard Wallace (an Englishman who clearly loved the city of Paris), these public drinking fountains were built in response to the lack of affordable clean drinking water after the Franco-Prussian war.

This is the larger of the two original versions installed. The four caryatids represent kindness, simplicity, charity, and sobriety.

Sobriety was so included because Paris, at the time, had a huge problem of alcoholism; beer being cheaper than water.

Abbesses Metro Station

It has one of the two remaining original Art Nouveau entrances with the glass canopy. 

Beautiful.

Dinner: Chinese Take out from Dragon D'or