Montmartre

Saturday

The forecast for the day wasn't great, but we decided to make the best of it and head up to Paris for the day on the train. Using a guided walk in our Eyewitness guide we explored first a lesser-known area in the east of the city, Buttes-Chaumont. When the city's boundaries were expanded in 1860, Belleville - once a village that provided Paris with fruit, wine and weekend escapes - was absorbed and the Buttes-Chaumont was created on the site of a former gypsum and limestone quarry. The park, with its meandering paths, waterfalls, grottoes, temples and vertical cliffs, was commissioned by Napoleon III and Baron Haussmann in 1864. It was built by the engineer Adolphe Alphond and the architect Gabriel Davioud, and was opened as part of the celebrations for the Universal Exhibition in 1867. The park is located across the road from the Mairie of the 19th arrondissement, where it seemed to be non-stop weddings all the time we were there, and not surprisingly many of the couples came across the road into the park for their photographs - we must have seen at least four couples. After lunch in a nearby brasserie, we took the metro to Montmartre and followed another guided tour from the book. We have visited Montmartre several times before, but we did come across a few places which were new to us. Starting in the top left-hand corner, and going clockwise, the top three photographs are the Auberge de la Bonne Franquette, which used to be a favorite gathering place for the 19th-century artists, next is the canopied Art Nouveau metro station entrance on Place des Abbesses. The Élysée-Montmartre was Montmartre's first great cancan dance hall. The bottom two photographs are the Art Nouveau church of St. Jean l'Évangeliste, with its unusual brick and mosaic facade, also located on Place des Abbesses. On the left hand side are the restaurant La Maison Rose and the famous Place du Tertre. Finally, the central picture is one of the many flights of steps in the area. We finished the day in our usual fashion, with dinner and an organ recital at Notre Dame.  A great day out!

One year ago: Autumn leaves