Walk Montmartre and other Paris, France Things to Do Tips

The dream of Paris in your mind can still be realized in the village of Montmartre in the north section of old Paris.
Though many parts are touristy
(especially Place du Tertre) ...

and since the release of the film "Amelie," Montmartre has gentrified and is very crowded with even larger hoards of tourists, all wishfully thinking the Paris of that excellent film is the real thing

but if you do a little research on Montmartre's history and some of it's addresses, then wander, climb and descend the side streets:

I promise walking Montmartre will be your first surrender
to the beautiful seductress that is Paris.

If you like, you can follow this link below for a brief walk and preview of magical Montmartre (en francais) :
Petite histoire de Montmartre

Leave a Comment

Address: Village Montmartre in Arrondissement 18.
Directions: Metro to Anvers or Abbesses. Ride the funicular from Anvers to Sacre Couer steps; the funicular / elevator up to Metro Abbesses;
or from the Moulin Rouge, enjoy the hike up the hill on Rue Lepic.

Sacre Coeur -
A beautiful church / basilica at the top of magical Montmartre.
The Sacre Coeur is worth all the climbing. Great views, and despite all the tourists a very beautiful place to visit.

Sacre Coeur

---

Leave a Comment

Address: The huge basilica at the top of Montmartre bluff
Directions: Metro Anvers. Take funicular to top or; Metro Abbesses funicular lets you out just below Bateau Lavoir: or from rue Lepic climb to top. Either way, you're going to walk uphill, or take a bus/cab to Sacre Coeur if you have trouble hiking uphill.
Website: http://www.paris.org/Monuments/Sacre.Coeur/

A very peaceful site in Montmartre just down the hill from the Place du Tertre. This is still one of my favorite places in Paris.

Picasso worked here in his studio in "the world's first modern art factory" with many artists of the Montmartre community.
This is a calm and relaxing site to stop and rest for reflection on your walking tour of Montmartre.

My favorite thing to do is sit on a Bateau Lavoir bench on a pleasant day like the one I took this picture, and listen on headphones to Erik Satie's Gymnopedies #s 1 & 3.
(Erik Satie lived just a few streets away when he composed these two beautiful pieces - see photo).

These fotos are '05 but I still have my short '03 Travelogue here if you would like to see more:
Bateau Lavoir

Much has been written on Bateau Lavoir....if you search the web for some great history and stories about this place you will find it.

Some web sites for you to check out:

Online Picasso
Above is a site on Bateau-Lavoir with some of its history and old photos. It is part of the original "online Picasso project" which is wonderfully and graciously shared by its creator, Dr. Enrique Mallen Professor Dept. of Hispanic Studies at Texas A&M University and Dr. Mallens collaborators @ TA&M. Merci beaucoup, Dr. Mallen!!

Other Montmartre/Bateau Lavoir links:

Here is an interactive 360 deg. panorama of Pl Emile Goudeau

Metropole Paris

Leave a Comment

Address: 11bis, pl. Emile Goudeau and/or 13 Rue Ravignan
Directions: Metro: Abbesses. Facing the church, head right up r. des Abbesses, and turn right (uphill) on r. Ravignan; follow the steps to pl. Emile Goudeau.

Pl Fernand Mourlot for years has always been one of my favorite hangouts.

Half a street from my hotel or a 5 minute walk from my apartment, it's like a magnet that pulls me in - morning or evening in any weather and says

"just sit down for a minute ..."


Minutes turn to hours in any of the cafes on the square watching, eavesdropping or just spacing out on the view.

As Pl Fernand Mourlot is a "hub" square, the adjoining rue Delambre, rue Montparnasse, Odessa, Edgar Quinet, the Gaite offer any personality, amusement & pleasure for any mood I might be in at the time.

Being also a small business center / hangout for locals & visitors, if I'm in the mood for some conversation I can chat up lots of folks doing the same thing I am (nothing), and in just about any language I feel like trying on for size.

Blvd Edgar-Quinet has market days on Wed and Sat with other small exhibits, shows & stands the rest of the week, along with its fun & historic theater "Cafe Edgar"

Gaite is always good for a chuckle at any hour of the day or night

Rue Delambre has really good food and my favorite bar, Rosebud

Rue du Montparnasse serves maybe the best crepes in the city;

all centering on & spreading out from the peaceful and cafe-strewn Pl Fernand Mourlot.


If we become ghosts in the next life, I will certainly haunt this place.

---

Around Christmastime '05 I was blown away to receive a personal message from
Eric Mourlot, the grandson of Fernand Mourlot, telling me he enjoyed reading this,
his parents still live just a street away on Bld. Raspail,
& the family visits Pl Fernand Mourlot all the time.
Thank you Mr. Mourlot for stopping by. Best of luck to you and wishes for continued success in your business endeavors.

Leave a Comment

Address: Pl Fernand Moulot 75014 Montparnasse
Directions: Hop off Metro ligne 6 @ Edgar Quinet & there you are.

Here is a MAP

& some History
Website: http://mourlot.free.fr/english/index.html

One of my favorite walks in Paris is through the Tuileries
My luck with Paris weather is unexplainable & beyond description, and this time I got a chance to capture it.

I have a walk through the Tuileries from Louvre to Place de la Concorde in my Tuileries Walk travelogue below, if you would like to take a walk with me and you don't mind getting some of the fine, white dust of the Tuileries on your walking shoes:

Tuileries walk

Leave a Comment

Address: Place du Louvre
Directions: Start at Louvre, walk nw toward the Champs Elysees. Walking from the Louvre, through the Tuileries all the way up the Champs to the Arc de Triomphe is one of the classic (and one of my favorite) walks in the world.
Website: http://paris.vagabondage.fr/tuileries/tuileries.html

Orsay has some of the best art and sculpture in Paris.

Van Gogh, Cezanne, Degas, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Rodin, and on and on... some of their best work is right here.

The magnificent location in what was an old train station has been done in grand style.

The art especially Impressionist & post-Impressionist filled me with pleasure and took a whole day to absorb the first time.

Both a self-serve cafe and a full-service restaurant (with a view of the city) upstairs in the museum that serve decent & healthy food... a necessary break for my brain in the prescence of so much great art.

You can buy a museum pass for the Orsay and lots of other Paris museums & attractions that allow bypassing all the lines for admission online here:

Click below:
Orsay and Paris Musee Pass

or at the main Paris TI office on the Champs Elysees. Some guidebooks claim you can also get this pass at main (e.g. Montparnasse Bienvenue) Metro stations.

For me a trip to Paris without a visit to the Orsay is incomplete.

Check out their website here:
Orsay Museum

Until you do get a chance to see the Orsay, go to the website, or even better, treat yourself to a "virtual visit" with this software:

Virtual Orsay Software

Musee d'Orsay: Virtual Visit can be purchased on the internet for much less, sometimes for approx. $20.

Leave a Comment

Phone: +33 1 40 49 49 94
Address: 1, rue de la Legion d'Honneur, Paris, 75007
Directions: Métro: line 12, Solférino station
Website: http://www.musee-orsay.fr

Walking one afternoon, I was turning right (NW) from Blvd Franklin Delano Roosevelt onto the Champs Elysees when I saw this.

a typical Paris way of making an ugly utility box interesting...

Leave a Comment

Directions: The first one has been painted over now (2005); the second on a side street in Montmartre; the third everyone in Montmartre has seen

Just outside the shadow of the much-maligned
Tour Montparnasse, rue De La Gaite, a street in one of my favorite parts of Paris, has 3 faces:

* PG - quiet & even a little nondescript in the daytime, save for the diversity of the businesses:
only in places like la Gaite will you find theaters, bistros, a charcuterie, boulonge / patisserie, porn shops, bar, an Asian family restaurant & peep shows
all living side by side in harmony;

* PG13 - lively and entertaining in the evening when its cafes, bistrots & theaters are entertaining locals & tourists;

* and NC-17, a lil' bit sleeeezy & even a little old-Paris spooky after midnight
when the Gaite is abandoned to the sex trade

Since it is always a part of my Paris home district I get to enjoy all three, and find myself often making up excuses to detour to la Gaite whenever I'm walking around the neighborhood.

Leave a Comment

Address: la Gaite
Directions: The street running south from Metro Edgar Quinet to Metro Gaite in the 14th.

Found a good day weatherwise in my neighborhood Montparnasse to visit the cemetery.

One of the main larger & older cemeteries in Paris, lots of famous / infamous folks have made Cimetiere Montparnasse their last home:
Jean Paul Sartre, Alfred Dreyfus, Baudelaire, Becket, Man Ray, some American film stars, Petain, etc.
All the graves are marked and locations shown on large displays in at least 2 different sections. Admission is free.

It was a very peaceful, quiet fall day and well worth the trip.

Lots of info here: Cimetierre Montparnasse Wiki

Leave a Comment

Phone: 01 45-38-52-56
Address: 33, av du Maine, Paris, France 75014
Directions: Metro Edgar Quinet or Gaite. Best entrance is the north side from blvd Edgar Quinet. Sartre grave is just inside this entrance to your right along the wall.
Website: http://www.insecula.com/musee/panorama_M0139.html

MUSIC!!! - CLICK HERE,

then scroll down to Track #3: APRIL in PARIS for a soundtrack:

________________________________

Along with the tower, a staple activity on my or anyones first time to Paris is a visit to the The Arc d'Triomphe.

It is a beautiful piece of architecture and history. It has a great location at the "top" of the Champs Elysees, making it the perfect place to begin a stroll all the way down the Champs Elysees to Place de la Concorde & the Tuileries. ( "I wuz a free man in Paris... " )

l'Arc de Triomphe has 2 different faces: in the day and at night. I recommend seeing both if you have time.

My favorite is to climb to the platform on the summit--a climb of 273 (?) steps I'm told (I lost count .. and my breath) -- at night. From there you get a classic view of Tour Eiffel in its lit-up glory, and a great shot of the Champs Elysees...... City of Light indeed!

In the daytime it offers the great Paris panorama, and the excellent detail of the structure itself, along with the tomb of Unknown Soldier beneath the Arch.

Imagine the joy sixty years ago, 25 August 1944 when Paris was liberated and throngs cheered as troops marched victorious down the Champs Elysees.

I am told there is an elevator for anyone who is disabled or otherwise not capable of the long steep climb to the top, but I recommend checking to make sure the staff is not on strike before you go (see my Paris warnings).

Photos are mine, nowhere near as good as the one by Anthony Atkielski who also ventured into the always-adventurous Paris traffic. His superior foto (one of my faves) is below:
Anthony Does the Champs

Leave a Comment

Address: At the "top" (NW end) of the Champs Elysees
Directions: Either Metro Line 1 (La Defense) or Line 6 to the Metro stop "Charles de Gaulle Etoile"