Montmartre

Our last day of exploring Paris! Off to Montmartre and its Bohemian delights. It was a bright and sunny day. Jack had found a 'walk to do' in a book on the shelf of our apartment.

As no one wanted to walk around with a tome entitled "Paris for dummies" in hand, I had scribbled down a summary of this walk on a notepad. I had to be team leader, and if we had a few unexpected twists and turns I was not sure if it was because I, or the book, was to blame.

Actually, it was a wrong direction that led us to the famous Moulin Rouge, pictured here - so that was not too bad. The Basilique was our only real destination, and we could get there following street signs.
This area used to grow all the wine grapes for Paris, and had windmills to press these grapes. There were a couple of these still left, and one 'historical' vinyard - unfortunately hard to photograph because of fences, angles and sun. Anyway, here was a lovely view at the top of a lot of steps...we seemed to climb and descend hundreds of steps this morning, really. This holiday has certainly tested our fitness.
This 'Maison Rose' belonged to some patroness of artists. (Google it if you must; I left the guidebook in Paris!) We noted the homes of Van Gogh and Picasso - they had plaques on them, but were pretty ordinary. Indeed, Picasso's first home had a burst water main and lots of orange plastic fencing around it today...
Eventually we made our way to the old marketplace, now full of very art-sy stuff. We bought a few prints from this shop. (I already owned the Manet shirt!) There were artists painting Paris scenes and portraits on demand further along. Lots of people milled about. We were not crowded as we did our walk, however.
The guide culminated in the Basilique at the top of the hill. We had been warned of aggressive hawkers and pernicious beggars in great numbers here, but we were not bothered at all. A pleasant surprise!
Back to the markets, where we bought some of the tastiest ice-cream we had ever had. (Mine was a scoop each of raspberry and Toblerone. Yum!) I even bought a scarf at a local shop- my first venture into a clothes shop. We had been too busy seeing the sights to shop, really.
The walk back to the metro was all down hill, an excellent thing. Back for lunch and a rest. Annie and I ventured out to the local shops later, and bought a few tourist-y things. We had a look at the 'proper shops', but they were all a bit too fashionable and expensive for the likes of us. Annie needed some new jeans, but I was not prepared to blow $100 on these for a ten year old. (I found some for just about a tenth of this sum back in England, and Annie was quite happy.) Back to the flat; we had 'done' Paris!