Paris - Day Four

We awoke again to good weather and remarked how lucky we were not to have experienced any rain during our stay thus far. I had thought that by uttering those words we would tempt fate but throughout our whole stay it rained only once and that was during the night - we were very lucky! I have probably put a curse now on our next holidays for years to come!

Feeling much better - we headed once again for the main area in Montmartre just off the Place du Tertre.

We went in search of Au Lapin Agile - a cabaret bar. We walked past La Maison Rose - a pretty little cafe / restaurant.

Another photo of La Maison Rose.

We arrived at Au Lapin Agile.

The bar first opened its doors in 1860 but it wasn't until 1875 when the artist Andre Gill painted a sign for the bar that it gradually became known as Au Lapin Agile. Hopefully, you can see the sign which shows a rabbit jumping out of a saucepan. The locals started calling the bar "Le Lapin a Gill" - Gill's Rabbit. Over a period of time this changed to Au Lapin Agile - The Nimble Rabbit.

At the beginning of the 20th century this bar was a favourite with struggling artists and writers including Picasso and Modigliani.

 

From the Au Lapin Agile we walked up some steps - you get the theme - this holiday was full of steps and going up and down the streets. It was certainly good exercise!

We came across this tower. There was no sign to say what it was.

We made our way towards our destination which was the Musee de Montmartre.

We arrived at the Musee. The museum is a former 17th century manor house - it now houses Toulouse-Lautrec posters and paintings by Suzanne Valandon, who had a studio above the entrance as did Renoir!

In the garden there was a sculpture.

Inside there was a sign stating that you couldn't take any photographs but there was only one person on duty and I sneaked around and managed to take a few!

The bottles etc above were part of a bar and a tribute to the Au Lapin Agile.

I managed to take a photo of two posters this one advertising a casino.

And this one advertising the Moulin Rouge. There was also a short film showing showgirls performing the can-can.

The museum could have done with a make-over. It had a medium sized garden that was just laid to waste - perhaps they had tried a cafe in the past and it had failed due to the amount of local competition but with all the history attached to the place a greater effort to do something with the space would I am sure have attracted more visitors. When we were there the place was virtually empty, which was sad.

The above was on a wall outside one of the nearby shops. Although I like colour it is far too loud for me yet I like it - work that one out!

Our Daughter said that this one was her favourite and that I had to take a photo of it!

We went to a nearby cafe for some drinks before heading back to the Sacre Coeur.

Fighting our way through the crowds we reached the Sacre Coeur. Our intention was to walk around the back of the Church as people normally only look at the front and my inquisitiveness meant that I just had to do this - I am mad!

The front of the Sacre Coeur is a tourist hot spot. At the back of the Church there was just us and the gargoyles.

 Curved iron railings. Here's my attempt at being artistic!

We went down the street and came across an empty shop with the remains of candles in the windows.

I liked the effect of the coloured wax and once again tried to be creative!

We came to the side of the Sacre Coeur and found that someone had placed an art work near the wall surrounding the church.

Steps leading up to the Sacre Coeur from the side - we avoided these. We had walked many steps that day and just couldn't face any more at that time!

A closer look at that horse and rider from the Sacre Coeur.

 

We came across a zany shop selling 1960's / 1970's toys and kitsch items. There were Holly Hobbie cloth dolls and Sindys inside.

I quite liked the pale pink cat not sure about its neighbour with the red eyes!

I found a shop window with its grill down with these Paris postcards and the camera was out once again snapping away!

We saw this cockerel street art.

We came across a road sign - I liked the colour - no idea what the sign is saying.

More street signs.

More street art.

A brightly coloured cafe on one of the side streets.

We once again stumbled on that burnt / derelict building covered in street art. Can you see the steps to the right - yes, we had to climb those.

Just before we start our ascent we take a deep breath and I take a photo too for a change!

After the steps we had a steep incline to walk - half way up we saw this inquisitive cat. What you can't see is that on the window ledge there is a bowl of cat food which I don't think belonged to this cat as sitting on the back of a sofa glaring at this cat was another cat! "Keep off my dinner!"

We saw another lovely sign. We arrived in the Place de Tertre and had our evening meal there - soaking up the atmosphere whilst deflecting the attentions of the ever-persistent portrait artists!

Just as we were finishing our dinner - we heard some drums being drummed and these two playing at kick boxing!

A large crowd gathered quite quickly. We had the best seats in the house as this was near to our table!

They weren't at the restaurant for very long. They moved on to another restaurant to repeat the performance and to persuade people to part with their cash. They were quite aggressive whereas as the other performers we'd seen were far more polite.

With our bellies full we walked back to the apartment - oh, no - only another 120 steps to the top! The Other Half and Our Daughter had got to the top before me in the dreaded smallest lift in the world - as soon as I saw the flat's door open I made a bee-line for the sofa to gather my breath back! Climbing stairs after a heavy meal is not such a good idea!

Until next time,

June.