Sunday morning arrived chilly and rainy, but my mom, aunt, and I remained undeterred in our plans to visit Montmartre. I went there last summer when I first visited Paris and loved it, and I still hadn't been back since moving here, so I was excited to go. When we first got to La Butte (the hill), the rain had stopped but had left behind a decidedly less-than-white basilica of Sacré-Coeur...
Fortunately, the weather cleared up entirely by the time we made it to the top of the steps and allowed for some excellent shots of the city and some more cheerful pictures of the church!
After walking through the basilica, we made our way gradually down the hill, following Rick Steves' walking tour. Here are a few of the places we passed as we made our way through this very charming and quiet part of the city:
The cute square pictured above was home to both Modigliani and Picasso during their time in Montmarte. They both lived at the back right corner and produced some of their most significant work while working at these studios.
French film fans may recall that Amélie worked at a café in Montmartre called Les Deux Moulins. This is it! It really is the same on the inside!
Yes, we did see the Moulin Rouge. I would like to go to a show here at some point...
The area around the Moulin Rouge (called Pigalle) is home to a truly impressive number of sex shops. This is by far my favorite of the things I saw in the windows as we passed by on our way back to the metro:
A beautiful church, lots of artists and history, and sex... you couldn't put together a more diverse neighborhood if you tried!
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