Although I've been to Montmartre a couple of times before, I decided to go up there again to see a couple of things I hadn't seen before, and to pay tribute to the many creative geniuses who lived or spent much of their time there. It was a Wednesday, so not swarming with people (though I saw a couple of big tour groups arriving just as I was headed for the Metro on my way back).
Here is an interesting building just outside of the Abbesses Metro station. (Abbesses is the 2nd deepest Metro station, after Buttes-Chamont, in the city; it has an elevator, while many Metro stations don't even have escalators. I took the stairs back down on my return, and it was at least 14 flights, so they need it. The stairwell is decorated with Montmartre-themed illustrations.)
This is the Rue de l'Abreuvoir (below), and the small pink building at the top of the street is the Maison Rose, which "was once frequented by [Maurice] Utrillo, Pablo Picasso, and Gertrude Stein" and now "serves lousy food to nostalgic tourists" (per Rick Steves' travel guide). Well, it's a pretty street:
I decided to stop in at the Montmartre Museum, a building which once housed, at various times, Utrillo, Renoir, and Erik Satie. It had this goofy red mill in the yard:
(I have still never seen the actual Moulin Rouge! My sister once described it as underwhelming, so I just never went.)
I found the museum itself a bit underwhelming -- lots of old postcards, lesser known paintings, and memorabilia. I was interested in the history of the area, but a lot of the postcards were hard to see in their cases... Perhaps I just wasn't in the right mood (and the fact that the audioguide did not work very well didn't help). I did appreciate, however, this great cat painting by Steinlen, who did many cat posters that you would probably recognize. Perhaps this was associated with the famous Chat Noir cafe. The cats seem to be coming out to pay homage to the black cat on the hill.
There were also some nice views of the neighboring vineyard (which still produces wine) and the Lapin Agile cabaret, below (right center in the lower photo). (Apparently the original Lapin Agile sign is in the museum; if so I must have missed it!)
I took a detour down the hill to a less tourist-frequented area to see what is reportedly the oldest house in Montmartre, dating from the 15th century (according to Laurent Deutsch in Metronome):
I then marched back up to Sacre-Coeur. As my younger sister and I noticed the last time I was there, there was an obvious (but not intimidating) police presence, which kept the scammers at bay. A big group of young women with their clipboards approached me head-on, but all I had to do was wave them away. There were also guys selling selfie sticks, but I assume that was a legitimate operation.
Here is the church from a non-traditional viewpoint:
and here is one of the many staircases leading up the hill:
However, this is not the main set of steps going up the front of the hill, and I wanted to see those, touristy though they may be, having always missed them in the past. (And I wanted to go down them, not up.)
When you see dramatic photos of these steps, it is usually at night or at dusk, with the lamps lit, and no people on the steps. I did not have those conditions. However, I did get to see these two young women stop and take pictures of each other at, I think, every landing. It was cute!
Here is another shot going down, and one looking back up:
I sat and had a little snack, during which time the clouds continued to clear, so I got this more traditional shot of the church:
which I do find a bit funny-looking, albeit striking.
And there was a nearby carousel!
Finally, I sought out a little more history, or legend, as it were: Legend has it that Saint Denis was martyred on the hill now known as Montmartre, or that he was martyred not far away and carried his head here before he died. I found this small sign pertaining to a "martyrium", and giving visiting hours, though these are close to illegible:
I believe there was a newer sign nearby posting more legible but extremely limited visiting hours. Since St Denis' remains are at the Basilique St. Denis (again per Metronome), I'm not sure what is supposed to be in the "crypt" here. [Update: Claire thinks it may be his heart!?] So I wasn't too motivated. I wonder how many takers they get, out of the thousands of people who come to Montmartre each year (or each day!)?
No comments:
Post a Comment