French Friday in Montmartre!

Hello All
Welcome to French Friday, where I share something French. I began this special day because in May I traveled to Paris for the first time in my life and spent two fabulous weeks there. I have been sharing bits of it each Friday, as well as having some giveaways.

Today, we are going to Montmartre! We had a bit of a long metro ride to this special area of Paris. When we got off the metro we began to make our way up, up and up, many stair steps until eventually we reached this incredible plateau close to the top of the hill that is Montmartre.

I realize now that I did not take any photos on my way up, probably because I was focusing on not collapsing! LoL!

The first photo is the view once we reached the first plateau, looking back towards Paris. The second photo (above) is if you turn and look behind you, then you see this lovely fountain. It is much nicer than in my little photo. I was so hot and sticky, I wanted to jump right in : )

To the side of the fountain are more (ugh!) steps, and then a few more, and then........you see what crowns the hill, Sacre Coeur! It is a basilica of the Roman Catholic Church, which is dedicated to the sacred heart of Jesus.

We had visited Notre-Dame earlier that day, and it was just incredible. But somehow, Sacre Coeur was even more beautiful. I really can't say why. It was just a feeling. We spoke to a nun there for a little bit. She was telling us about the present Pope, which we were embarrassed to admit we did not know. Some how, I always get flustered in front of a nun!

We were not allowed photos in this church, so unfortunately I can not show you the absolutely incredible wall paintings inside. Right outside the front doors though, I took these two photos. The stone medallions on the walkway and (below) the lion handles on the gorgeous old doors.

Here is a photo of one of the sides of the basilica.

Just around behind the church you come to the main square where there are a large number of artists outside painting. Many of them want to paint or draw you. It is very interesting to see all the different kinds of artwork being done there.

I took this photo of this artist.....he was not too happy about that. Sorry, I did not know.

Below is a creperie, one of many in Paris. It smells heavenly by one of these. Notice the jar of Nutella, it is bigger than that man's head! Huge! We learned that Nutella is a favorite on just about anything.

Now, this shop below really caught my attention. First off, it is on a quaint winding cobblestone street. It looks so.....I don't know....old world? To me.

It was just filled with gorgeous delights to eat!

I only looked in the window : (

MMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmm

This is a corner coming down again from the hill.

Cafes are everywhere. So pretty!

We turned the corner and stumbled into the textile center! Whooo hoooooo! Don't you love surprises like that???

Piles and piles of fabric up and down the sidewalks. I went into one shop and bought some trims and some beautiful feathers.

This fabric and notions shop was just packed full of all kinds of supplies for the creative mind!
Oh how I would have loved a U Haul!

Montmartre is a place of creativity and beauty. The views from the top of the hill are inspiring. I wonder if it is much changed from when Vincent van Gogh was there, or Pablo Picasso, or Claude Monet?

I hope you enjoyed our trip today.
Thank you so much for stopping by.
Hugs,
Terri