Montmartre and Georges Pompidou

We took a 2-hour walking tour of Montmartre, former artist's area, with Paris Walks. Highly recommended.

One of only two fully original Metro entrances. Originally designed to entice people to go below ground to use the train. Entrance to Abbesses metro.


Street cleaning crew. Out at 10:30am on a Sunday. Paris has a reputation of being dirty, we however find it reasonably clean. It's a bit grimey because it's old sometimes, but for the most part, not dirty at all.


Public art project. 'I love you' in 280 languages. At Place des Abbesses.


Kitty in a 4th floor window box. Must be a nice view.


One of many public water fountains. Just put your water bottle and fill it up. Paris drinking water is of very good quality.


Van Gogh lived here.


Picasso lived here.


Another public art project. While Paris is clean, there is a lot of graffiti. This one is based on this short story: http://www.stresscafe.com/translations/pm/index.htm


Public art project. Based on Saint Denis of Paris, legend here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis


A Lapin Agile, former cabaret. The owner accepted payment in paintings and ended up with a valuable collection.


Oldest vineyard in Paris. Renoir painted "The Swing" in the garden beyond.


One of the narrow, hilly streets of Montmartre.


Sacré-Coeur basilica.


Inside Sacré-Coeur. We evaded the do not take photos police and grabbed a couple of snapshots.


Artists' square.


Restaurant from Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain


Inside the restaurant. We had coffee here. It's still a dive.


Walked by the Moulin Rouge.


After Montmarte, we took the train to see Georges Pompidou. The sign show the time and when the next 2 arriving trains are. Handy to know your wait time.


Georges Pompidou Centre. We didn't go to any exhibitions, we were curious to see the building. More about it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre_Georges_Pompidou


Igor Stravinsky sculptures beside Georges Pompidou.


We took the elevator to the top for a fantastic view of the city. That's free and easily accessible, just pretend you're going to the restaurant.


à demain