Paris - Sacre Coeur

We continued up the hill from Pigalle to the hill of Montmatre.

Marianne had planned out our route and so we went up the curved street to the right.

And acme across this nondescript apartment building.

So why are the flowers on this closed shutter?

The answer.

He would have looked out on at this roof top.

The bakery tour might be interesting. This could be a great alternative to doing a house exchange. Some of you may have wondered why I put such an effort into the blogs. Yes, I enjoy doing it and the blogs make a wonderful resource when I want to remember things, but I do it also to make you curious and want to visit the same places or even others that I have never been to. Travel is wonderful.

It really is uphill. All of the walking is really good exercise. If you feel that your life is too sedentary, consider travel as the antidote to lounging around.

The green was really unusual in Paris.

Now and then you see tourists taking photos. That is usually a pretty good indication that you should check whatever it is out.

Sign a the entrance. Look at the lower left.

More explanation.

Inside. I suspect what is inside now bears little relation to the famous painting. But at one time, this is where it all happened.

Marianne remarked that she expect to see more of this in Paris.

We don't know who this was but it was very effective. If you can, zoom in on the left hand fingers which really glistened in the sun. Marianne has found out that he was the writer Marcel Ayme and one of his most famous stories is about a man who discovers he can walk through walls.

It's not an area I would like to live in because of all the tourists but there are really interesting houses and gardens. 

We reached a really touristy area.

The Rue Cortot. The travel guide mentioned that a French composer lived here so I had to take a look.

No this is not his house, so I wonder why they were taking the photos.

The Tourist Train made an appearance and blocked the street for several minutes for some reason or another. The line of traffic backed up behind it soon became impatient and horns started to blow. I don't blame them.

Here it is. Number 6.

Eric Satie lived here. He was famous for just three compositions, the Gymnopedies which are perhaps the most graceful of all music. They are elegant, obviously to be danced to but very melancholic. The supreme performance by a long way I have ever heard on record was by Cecile Ousset. Here is a link to hear the music but it is nowhere near what Cecile achieved.

Her performance is one of the few that I can remember precisely where I was when I first heard it. I was driving home along Coronation Drive in Brisbane beside the river in the early 70's. I thought I would never hear it again but managed to find it on CD.

The water tower.

Famous view to the north.

It is absolutely lovely up here but I would hate to have to deal with all the tourists all throughout the year.

The horde. We were just a part of them. 

Eventually, the cupola of Sacre Coeur came into view.

Behind the cathedral is this interesting looking convent. I am not certain, But I suspect you can actually stay there in some form of accommodation. You can do the research.

The stone work is interesting.

The horde at the entrance to the cathedral. We decided that we would give the cathedral a miss.

The famous view.

Hundreds of people sitting on the steps.

The bloke in black rolled a glass ball in his hands and sort of oozed around. I was not sure what the point of it all was but the bloke in white on the left obviously thought the performance was worth money.

The tower at Montparnasse which we had visited the week before. It is ugly.

The top of the funicular. If you are lazy this is the easy way to get to the top of the hill to visit the cathedral.

Another older performer playing the harp. I thought he needed to tune the harp a little.

You can apparently climb up to the dome and wander around. If you click on the photo you may be able to see the people up there.

We descended the steps.

Eventually, you come to a very touristy street at the bottom of the steps. At this point, Marianne decided a trip to the bathroom was an absolute necessity. There was not a McDonalds in sight so she had her adventure with the toilet at the bottom of the funicular.

Why would anybody actually need anything that was sold here? Obviously, they must.

We bought a baguette sandwich for lunch in a nearby park. We shared it along with a pastry loaded with chocolate bits that was delicious.

There is all sorts of interesting stuff in the shop windows. I wondered what on earth you would use the device at lower left for in a beauty shop.

Next up was the Passage ways (arcades).