La butte de Montmartre - Sacre Coeur, cabarets et un vignoble?

As I mentioned in my last post, I managed to get at least one somewhat touristy thing in last Sunday - visiting la butte de Montmartre.  Known for the beautiful Sacre Coeur, it's become even more well-known because of the popular French film Le fabuleux destin d'Amelie Poulin or Amelie.  We got extremely lucky with the weather, as you can see, and it was warm with not a single cloud in the sky.  After seeing Notre-Dame, which is gothic through and through, the styling of Sacre Coeur seems incredibly different but equally notable.  With it's domes and vaulted ceilings, it's stunningly beautiful.

 Because Sacre Coeur rests on the tippy-top of one of Paris' two hills, la butte de Montmartre, you can see it from most of Paris - Sunday morning, for example, I was running by my house and I could see the looming domes of Sacre Coeur in the distance.   Not only can you see the cathedral from most of Paris, you can also see most of Paris from the cathedral.   It's quite the view either way to be honest.

 Montmartre is also the quartier known for it's cabarets, particularly the area at the base of the hill (Pigalle I believe).  For anyone who has seen Moulin Rouge, you probably get the idea.  While during the day, the area is full of tourists, at night the atmosphere changes considerably.  Our Sciences-Po buddy slightly cautioned us against going there at night, particularly for girls, as it is the haunt of slightly older men, who are paying to see women dance in the cabarets.  It's also known for prostitution and cross-dressers (of whom we saw five, while waiting for the Funicular)

 There's a super active art community in the area as well; one of the squares not far from the cathedral is full of artists willing to paint, draw or engrave a portrait of you, though usually at a high cost to your wallet.  Most of them are incredibly talented, but the works are usually expensive, catering to the tourist population that roams through on a daily basis.

I found these ones particularly cool - they were like reversed engraving, so they had this awesome dimension to them.

 Apparently it's a thing of pride for Parisiens to produce their own wine.  I would say I'm surprised (Paris is a city after all, who would imagine having a vineyard in the middle of one of the biggest cities of Europe...) but then again this is France, wine capital of the world.  Thus, every year, Parisiens help in the 'récolte' or harvest of the grapes grown in this small vineyard on the Montmartre hill.  I can't attest to the quality of the wine, but every year, Paris produces at least one vintage.

Again with a reference to Moulin Rouge, most people will be familiar with the image of the moulin, or wind mill.  This particular wind mill, le moulin de Gallette, is the oldest one in Paris.







And as today is Friday, thus ends another week in Paris - it's amazing to think how fast two weeks have already gone by, but a year is a long time, and there is still so much to explore and learn !

I'll try to post again this weekend, and talk about my expérience at l'Opera Bastille :)

Bisous xx