My Parisian Adventure – Day 2 (Montmartre, Sacre-Cœur, The Moulin Rouge and the Avenue de l’Opéra)

Second day in Paris, and I was raring to go. After an exhausting day travelling, my mother and I slept well that night. So the next morning we were up and awake for our first proper venture in Paris itself.
My mother had always told me that since I had planned the holiday, it was ‘my holiday’ and we could virtually do whatever I wanted.
So, my itinerary consisted of:
-Montmartre
-Notre-Dame
-Bastille
-Versailles
-Pere-Lachaise Cementary
-The Moulin Rouge
-The Eiffel Tower
-The Catacombs.
-Sacre-Cœur

So, the next morning, we decided that today we would tackle Montmartre, which in turn would tick off three of my places to visit. Montmartre is a hill in the north of Paris. And like many cities, Paris is a bit like a lot of tiny villages all tied together with a metro line running through them.
Montmartre is one of those little villages. And at the very summit of this hill, sits the beautiful Sacre-Cœur – a Roman Catholic church and minor basilica. Constructed from travertine stone, the building is flawlessly white, and sticks out like a sore thumb against the landscape of Paris.
The neighbourhood of Montmartre is also historically significant as being somewhat of a cultural hotspot for artists, singers and dancers – as well as housing the Moulin Rouge.
So, naturally, as a aspiring writer, I was inspired to go to this place of such cultural richness.
So the next morning, we set out. Now, getting from our flat to Montmartre was of course a metro journey. We went from Jaurés to Abbesses – which required a cross from Line 2 to Line 12 at Pigalle, but the journey wasn’t too long. And as I mentioned before, Montmartre is hilly. It takes good calf muscles to trek up those cobbled streets, but as we learnt later there is actually a small railway which carts you up from the bottom of the hill to Sacre-Cœur in under two minutes. So if you’re with elderly people/children and buggies – it may be worth considering.

But mother and I soldiered on. We moved through tiny streets of cobbled beauty, passing delicious smelling bakeries with stunning cakes and delicacies in the windows, and everywhere you looked, there were tiny balconies and filigree window panes, which made you feel that you had been transported away from the 21st century, and back to the period of having Van Gogh and Dai on your doorstep.

And of course, like any major landmarks in any cities, it was covered in tourist booths and shops, but they fit in with the quirky aesthetic that the district seemed to offer. But I was on a mission.

Onwards we soldiered to the very top of the hill, and stood in the shadow of Sacre-Cœur.
By then, we were exhausted and bought a very reasonably priced full tuna baguette from a nearby bakery (the name slips my memory, but rest assured, bakeries in Paris are all delicious. Heck, even the filled baguettes we got from the local supermarket were outstanding), and we sat in a doorway directly opposite the basilica and had our lunch. Now, to me, that experience becomes one of the memories that you always look back on fondly.

Sacre-Cœur is a beautiful piece of architecture, and anybody who knows me knows that one of my biggest fascination’s in life, is with good architecture, so of course we went inside. It’s beautiful, peaceful and not as big as Notre-Dame, but the mosaic that is depicted within the ceiling of Jesus with a flaming heart is certainly breathtaking.
We lit candles for our relatives, and just took in this spectacle. It was cool, dark and a true sanctuary against the midday sun. And when we exited, we crossed ourselves in Catholic tradition and stood to admire the view of Paris spread beneath us. The view of the city is almost too much. Too much to look out, and too many different things to take in. But I urge anyone to go and stand there and admire the city below. It is so worth it.

After, a short journey down Montmartre led us to where the Moulin Rouge stood, with its giant scarlet windmill alluding back to a different time. We took pictures, and made our way on the metro to the Avenue de l’Opéra, a very beautiful part of the Paris, which to me is the sort of Chelsea/Sloane Square of the entire city. Full of elegant shops, expensive boutiques and once again, beautiful infrastructure, the area just seems to give off the scent of wealth and elegance at its highest. We quickly visited the Fragonard Museum of Perfume on the Rue Scribe, which offers an interesting and rich history over how perfume has changed over the years, and then we sat down at Cafe de l’Olympia, and had our first crepe and hot chocolate of the trip.

There is so much to do in the city, that a simple excursion tired us out. However, the next day, I took mother on a proper walking holiday across the city, and we saw a lot of beautiful sites and got quite sunburnt.