Montmartre & le Sacré Coeur

Le Sacré Coeur

Montmartre

We had an ambitious plan to wake up early, go for a run along la Seine to the Eiffel Tower and then walk up the hill to Montmartre. Fail. Instead, we woke up at noon, skipped the run and decided to take the metro to Montmartre. Although we deviated from our plans early, we still had an excellent day. Every Sunday there is a farmer's market that opens right next to Mark's apartment. It is considered one of the biggest and best in Paris where you can go to get fresh local produce, meat, fish, spices, cheese, etc. for much cheaper than you would find in the supermarkets. We started our day by getting some groceries for dinner and for the upcoming week; then after dropping everything off at home, we took the metro to Montmartre, located in the 18th arrondissement. We got off at Lamarck, a really cute area that is away from all the tourists and had some of the most beautiful buildings I've seen in Paris. We made our way up the hill to le Basilique Sacré Coeur. Before we went inside we stopped to pick up a couple of macaroons from the patisserie. It was my first time trying a real parisian macaroon, and they are SO good! I got one praline and one vanilla. We then went inside le Sacré Coeur, took a seat and listened to the choir sing entrancingly. Mark says that he often comes on the weekend because it is one of the few places in the city that relaxes you and allows for self-reflection without any disturbances. I can see what he means. There was a lady behind us that had the most enchanting voice; I took the opportunity to close my eyes and just listen to her and I could almost feel my spirit escape my body just for an instance - it was that beautiful.

Le Moulin Rouge

To offer up a juxtaposition, we left le Sacré Coeur and made our way down the hill to le Moulin Rouge. I found it interesting how the two are about a 5 minute walk away from each other. We turned the corner and all of a sudden the street was illuminated with red neon lights and the shops alternated from sex shop to strip club with maybe one souvenir store or grocery store on each block. Still, the Moulin Rouge was something that I wanted to see while I was here and I am happy to have seen it.
We got home, made salmon and vegetables for dinner and then relaxed for the rest of the night. Mark starts work again tomorrow - let's see if I survive without him.

Love,
Alexis