STROLLING IN MONTMARTRE

We are up on the hill now in the land of cobblestone streets, in a family friendly neighborhood with lots of children.  Instead of souvenir shops you have flower shops, small food markets, fish markets, as well as fruit and vegetable markets.  Also, don't forget the countless bistros, bread bakeries and pastry shops.  Spending our final full day in Paris, umbrella free, strolling the Abbesses neighborhood in Montmartre has made for a very pleasant ending to our trip.

The entrance to the underground Abbesses Metro station

And for all my friends who suggested I bring home a tall, dark and handsome Frenchman here is my sneaky picture of one.  He is just a pup.

 A college boys choir from Holland singing in English.

Wonderful glace flavors!

Discovered a Catholic church with a very different architecture.

From the holy to the sinful, we drifted down to the Moulin Rouge area and - just to show a racier side - here are a few pictures.  This is one museum we didn't visit, it contains 6 floors of erotica.  Ooh la la!

The official (not naughty) Moulin Rouge gift shop.

This blog would not be complete without showing parking in Paris.  The cars are parked so close that I can't imagine being able to get out, this car had about 3 inches to spare between it and the car behind.  To the Parisians dented and scratched bumpers are no big deal.

This little one passenger car squeeeezed between two cars.  Now this is creative parking. 

The owner of this little white car isn't going anywhere soon...

A last look at our home away from home.  The long balcony on the top right of the photo is the apartment we are staying in and from where we enjoy those fabulous views of the city.

 Photo of the floor in the uniquely shaped elevator of the apartment building.

Two people max on this one.

A word on bicyclists in Paris....CRAZY! These bicycle stands are found throughout the city and many local people use the bicycle to get to work, shopping or just getting around town.  You can rent a bicycle in one area and leave it in any other bicycle rental stand in the city.  No helmets,  the bicyclist squeeze in between cars, run red lights and are a general nuisance -taxi drivers have strong opinions about them.  In a city with narrow streets, lots of traffic, and not bicycle friendly at all the bicyclists are fearless and/or crazy.

SACRE COUER

A couple of days ago we made another visit to Sacre Couer, where we had attended Mass on Sunday and heard the choir of nuns.  If you recall on our first visit my camera's photo disk failed.  I was glad to once again see this beautiful church and the fabulous views from the top of the hill.

The view from the steps of the church.

We walked up the hill but took the Funiculaire back down.

TOMORROW....PARIS AT NIGHT